Mindlessly Pulling the Lever

I have been told that Speedway will never elect anyone but a Republican to its Town Council. Perhaps, but I have some thoughts on that.

I have noted the frustration with which many have viewed the town officials and decisions made regarding redevelopment. As an example, I got the following comment yesterday:

and I might add the Wilshaw company just got done building themselves a nice office area on Main Street. The Town is corrupt, with all of the players from the redevelopment, town council and chamber all being in on the happenings, each member jumping from one group to another playing president or some other such office. The sad thing about all this TIF talk is just that-talk. Everything has already been decided behind closed doors. The players just think they are being transparent when they "legally" inform the public of these bond hearings, but as any public person can tell you, the players have already made up their mind about how it will go.

This is a commonly voiced frustration: that the same people are in charge of everything and take no input from those they putatively represent.

Am I the only one who sees the disconnect here? If you don't like what your officials are doing, vote them out. You can't simultaneously bitch about the performance of your public officials and then either (a) fail to vote or (b) mindlessly pull the lever for the same party over and over. As they say, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is textbook insanity.

I understand partisan loyalty, mind you, but these greater ideological differences between Republicans and Democrats have no bearing on local government. Consider;

• Speedway's local government has precisely zero say about abortion, gay marriage, or any other social issue
• Speedway's local government has nothing to do with any foreign policy on any level
• Speedway's local government has very little to do with your tax burden

They do, however, have a lot to say about how our local amenities are constructed, financed, etc.

I suppose what I'm saying is that if you have a problem with your town councilor, vote for someone else in the next election. The political parties do not hold primaries and instead "slate" their candidates based on the internal decisions of the party. When the residents of Speedway mindlessly vote Republican, and the "slated" Republican candidate is guaranteed victory, that is democracy in name only and a willful forfeiture of your right to choose your political representatives.

Vote, and do so after considering the candidate, not the party.