Leveling the Political Playing Field
Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.
The world wishes to be deceived, so let it be deceived.
That simple Latin phrase says so much in so few words. In this current election season, we are being regularly bombarded with political memes on social media. These memes are designed to appeal toward ideas we wish to be the incontrovertible truth. All too often they are not true at all. We skip that step where we exercise our intellectual curiosity to make sure that we are not being misled just because we want something to be correct. It is a human trait, and we are all given to falling for falsehoods like these.
On any given day on Facebook you are apt to see a portrait of a Founding Father and on it is printed in beautiful script a quote supporting what sounds suspiciously anti-government. Perhaps it is the teacher in me, but I check those all of the time to see if they are accurate. And, I find that, about nine times out of ten, the quote is spurious in nature and was never uttered by the person in the meme. It is a trick used by logicians and advertisers who use an authority figure to represent a false statement knowing that the average person will never check its veracity. If Dr. Black says smoking is good for you, then who am I to argue? If Abraham Lincoln says Ford trucks are the best in class, how can he be wrong? It’s Honest Abe! It is just that ridiculous.
Politicians stretch the truth and count on the fact you won’t check to see if they are telling the truth. Year after year we listen to commercial after commercial denouncing everybody in the opposition party as being corrupt and having hidden agendas. As a Democrat in Elbert County who has run for office, I can tell you it can get pretty ugly. When I ran for county commissioner in 2008 I was accused of wanting to take people’s guns away, that I would increase local taxes, that I would stop all growth, that I was a Communist and that I hate personal property rights. It did not matter that as a commissioner from the minority party in the county that I would have no power to do any of the things of which I was accused. It did not matter that I was and remain a property rights activist encouraging people to adjudicate their most basic of property rights, the rights to the water beneath their feet. It just mattered that the party leaders of the Republican party said it was true. They wouldn’t lie…or would they?
The truth is that while the Republican party is and will remain the majority political party in Elbert County for years to come, there is almost no opportunity for national political party platform issues to be enacted at the county level. Gay rights, gun control, income tax, immigration reform, nuclear proliferation and the topic of abortion will not be changed by an elected county commissioner, clerk or treasurer. They have jobs to do and it almost never involves party politics. The State of Colorado has a handbook on the responsibilities of county government at the following link:
https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/sites/default/files/13%20Local%20Gov%20Handbook%20for%20posting.pdf
If you go there you will see just how unglamorous and pedestrian our local government officials' duties really are. From that booklet:
County Powers and Responsibilities
Mandatory services. Counties have the powers, duties, and
authorities that are explicitly conferred upon them by state law. Specific
statutory responsibilities include the provision of jails, weed control, and
establishment of a county or district public health agency to provide, at
minimum, health and human services mandated by the state.
Discretionary powers. Counties also have several discretionary
powers to provide certain services or control certain activities. Listed below
are other commonly used powers or services that a board of county
commissioners is authorized to implement. Under state law, counties have
the authority to:
• provide veteran services;
• operate emergency telephone services;
• provide ambulance services;
• conduct law enforcement;
• operate mass transit systems;
• build and maintain roads and bridges;
• construct and maintain airports;
• lease or sell county-owned mineral and oil and gas rights;
• provide water and sewer services;
• control wildfire planning and response;
• promote agriculture research and protect agricultural operations;
- administer pest control; and
- operate districts for irrigation, cemeteries, libraries, recreation, solid waste and disposal, and various types of improvement districts.
What I am saying is that whether you vote for a Democrat, a Republican or an Independent, if you want better local government ask yourself who is best qualified to do the things on the list above. Pick someone based on their ability to do the job and not just who is the most steeped in the national party platform. The ones with the most flags or the best mascot should not even enter into the equation. Ask yourself, "Does the candidate know the issues? Does the candidate listen to the voters? Does the candidate have special training or skills?" All of those things should be more important than party affiliation when voting at the county level.
Don’t just listen to misinformation from either party. I am a Democrat and I am telling you that you need to vote for the candidate who can best fulfill the duties of their job even if it means voting for someone of a different party. Yes, Democrats, that may mean voting for a Republican. And yes, Republicans, that may mean voting for a Democrat. But in order to do that, you will have to look past the hyperbole and exaggerations. You will have to do the hard work that is necessary to get at the truth.
And finally, when a candidate is thrust into a commissioner race due to an unfortunate mistake, such as Jill Duvall recently has been, at least try to get the honest facts about her candidacy. Allow her to begin on a level playing field whether you have already decided to vote for Chris Richardson or not. The Elbert County News wrote a fairly accurate piece on just how Jill Duvall became the Democratic candidate for District One. I was a bit sorry to see Chris Richardson put the blame on Jill, but that may have been his understanding. That said, after reading a reader comment and talking to some of my Republican friends, it is clear that there is a great deal of misinformation being spread about Jill. Please avoid some of the popular myths that are floating around about the former head of the Elbert County Democratic Party. I will attempt to give you a head start on your research.
• Jill Duvall never sued Elbert County. She issued a complaint to the Colorado Secretary of State as a private citizen concerned about misuse of taxpayer money. Any county money wasted on lawsuits came from our own BOCC. Even after the acting county attorney at the time advised them against it, Commissioners Rowland and Schlegel forged ahead and lost.
• Jill Duvall never changed her party affiliation during the primary election to vote for Grant Thayer. She would have had to resign as the Democratic Party Chairperson., Elbert County Elections Manager Rhonda Braun has verified that no such change of party was made. She will be providing me a state printout which I will post on this site when I receive it.
• Jill Duvall is not against property rights. My wife and I have done numerous workshops to show people how to adjudicate their water rights and Jill has assisted us on many occasions. In Elbert County, because water is such a precious commodity, protecting the water under your property has always been a priority to Jill Duvall. She believes that when the inevitable development comes to Elbert County, our groundwater resources must not be compromised by over allocation or mismanagement of grey water in larger high density developments. Wanting assurances that our water will not be put at risk by developers wishing to cut corners for higher profit margins is not the same thing as anti-property rights nor anti-growth.
There are factors to consider in this upcoming election that are factual. Our practice of passing budgets with large deficits is truly concerning. The 2016 budget that was passed has us going down by an additional $3,000,000. The same developers, whose questionable designs on county water resources, keep showing up like bad pennies and quite honestly some of our candidates haven’t got the historical perspective to pick these characters out of a lineup.
It is time to recognize that the skills necessary to become good commissioners are not bestowed upon people by their party but instead by their ability to work hard, be creative and be responsive to the county residents. If that person just happens to be a republican, a libertarian, an independent or god forbid a democrat, so be it. Remember, this is not the level of governing where a party platform comes into play, so pick someone who can get the job done.
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