So Much for Kumbaya
With political partisanship at an all-time high in Washington it was naive — bordering point of being foolish — to think that by simply changing to another form of county government Republicans and Democrats hereabouts would join hands in some kind of bi-partisan love fest; it’s just not going to happen, and for good reason: Their elementally disparate views of the role of government in our Republic. More on this later.
Fissures in the hoped-for wall of unanimity that was supposed to exist between the Rs and Ds under this new construct are being evidenced right out of the gate as the struggle to elect a president of the new County Council erupted on the front page of the PD. The notion that members of that 11-member body are not going to sometimes have conversations with each other outside of earshot of the public or the press is nonsense. Not for nothing is the process called politics, and politicians of each party have always held caucuses.
Even if the three Republicans on the Council had been present when a president was selected their votes would not have been enough to impact the outcome. So what purpose is served by a public charade of transparency and openness when the result is a foregone conclusion? If we, the voting public, had wanted bi-partisanship we should have done away with partisan primaries and have all candidates run as independents in a non-partisan race. So much for aforethought.
But for anyone to think this little dust-up signals the end of such wrangling, think again … it’s just the beginning. Back to those “role of government” differences. When the Ds attempt to keep intact the social safety net for the most at-risk citizens (especially in light of what the new governor is going to attempt to do by balancing the state budget on the backs of the poor and disenfranchised) the Rs are going to call for shifting a portion of county funds to some new economic development scheme. In other words, go back to Ronald Reagan’s “trickle down” theory of enriching business owners so they will, in turn, create jobs. Problem is, for the last two decades that theory hasn’t worked. When business owners get richer they simply take grander vacations to visit their off-shore safety deposit boxes. Sure, Republicans have three seats on the County Council, but Democrats — like it or not — will continue to rule.
“Real” Black Friday
Each year the crowds amassing at the doors of retail establishments on the day after Thanksgiving vying to take advantage of door-buster specials grow larger and larger … and more out of control. This year, in addition to the normal stampede where some folks run the risk of getting trampled, people were threatening bodily harm to each other — and one gun-toting would-be shopper was detained by police.
While retailers seem to delight at these mob scenes as a form of free advertisement, what responsibility do they have to their customers? They set up a potentially dangerous situation by encouraging the madness, but so far have been delinquent in taking measures to assure public safety. Instead of erecting simple crowd control measures such as barricades, or at least assigning security guards to maintain some semblance of order, stores allow these increasingly disgusting displays of cupidity while knowing full-well that eventually someone is going to get killed. It’s just a matter of time before we have a “real” Black Friday.
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://www.neighborhoodsolutionsinc.com.