By Michael Cole

 

This is probably the last topic that anyone would expect from a person that is a party official. However, it deserves to be touched on by any rational voter. The question being, when you mark your ballot, do you mark the best candidate for the job, or the one that has the D or R after their name.

My answer is, for local elections, the very last thing that you should focus on is party and ideology.

Yes, you read right, Michael Cole, a man who ran twice for Congress as a Democrat and is the current County Party Secretary stated bluntly, that in local races, the label in not only unimportant at this level, if is dangerous.

Our choices should not be limited to party, but a discussion of ideals and vision. Who is going to fix the roads, ensure our safety in the event of another IKE or HARVEY? When you go into to vote in November, it is essential that you ignore party and look to who you think can do the better job.

Our Founding Fathers opposed political parties for they foresaw the divide and mob rule mentality that parties can bring. They wrote the Constitution with that idea, that at the end of the day, that we as Americans would come together and rule with common sense and the idea that the needs of the community out weighed the needs of a few people.

Orange is a great county to live in and to invest in. By far we have the potential to be better. With a port, rail lines and access to the interstate, with the right approach we can lure the businesses of the 21st Century.

But it will not happen if the two parties retreat into an armed camp, suspicious of each other. Mistrust fuels animosity. In that mode, it becomes impossible to achieve any goal. John F Kennedy once said, “a rising tide lifts all boats.”

Local government should live under that motto.

Just a few months ago, we came together as a community when the rains of HARVEY brought devastation to our county. During that time, we saw the wonders that we can do with and for our neighbors. We did not care if at other times we referred to our neighbors as “libtards,” “snowflake,” “rethuglicans,” and a host of other insults. We saw our brothers and sisters in need and that transcended party.

That is the spirit we need to continue. The level of trust we must aspire to. We should have no time for politicians that will argue every point, and must win at all costs. Instead we need unifiers, true leaders of the community. We do not elected merely for their party, but the represent the spirit of the community.

Besides, we have more than enough to argue over the Cowboys and the Texans.