Meaningless Party Politics

Are we just kidding ourselves?

 Of course some of you who are reading this may be upset with my assessment, but I want to go on record as telling you what, if you are being totally honest with yourself, you already know:  Party politics in rural Colorado mean almost nothing.  This is a statement coming from a man who has been the vice-chair of the Elbert County Democrats for years, has run for commissioner as a Democrat, and regularly contributes to Democratic causes across the nation.  Party politics mean almost nothing in rural Colorado. Now, if you can just stop laughing long enough or crying long enough to hear me out, I will explain.  

You do not have to be a mathematician to see that the rural population in Colorado is overwhelmingly Republican.  The only elections out on the Eastern Plains that are of any significance are the Republican primaries, and those races are never about party issues. The issues in local Republican primaries generally center around personalities, family ties and what place in line you hold in the Republican candidate machine.  Democrats here in our county do not, generally speaking, have any similar problems.  In fact, lots of races go uncontested in Elbert County because the donkey party can't find anyone with a pulse who is willing to fork out copious amounts of their own cash, put up with the unbridled disrespect from the opposition party, and then live with the crystal clear recognition that they are going to get their asses handed to them early in November. It is a brutal proposition that only the most die-hard Pollyanna can endure...all in the name of doing their "civic duty."

It is a one party system here in rural Colorado.  To be honest, most Democrats are envious of the position rural Republicans hold.  It is a foreign concept to a Democrat to go to a local restaurant or social gathering of any sort and feel comfortable talking politics at a decibel level over that of a whisper, not with the general chit chat politics, mind you.  No, I am talking about saying what you feel about a politician loud and proud, like before looking at everyone in your group and and braying in a voice generally reserved for trumpeting elephants, "Am I right? Or am I right?"  To do that in Elbert County might get the paint job on your car keyed. They will find your Prius and do unholy and unwholesome things to it or they may even offer to punch you in the nose before you leave the restaurant.  

It is a one way street, of course, because as a Democrat in Elbert County, I hear it all the time.  I have learned to live with it because this county, this place, is too beautiful for me to ever leave.  And, when people do set their politics aside, we all seem to get along.

To continue with my premise of party politics being meaningless out here, let me offer up a couple of facts:  If you sit in any BOCC meeting here in Elbert I want you to play an imaginary drinking game. You know how this game works.  If a person says a particular thing that the participants predetermined in the course of a meeting, interview, etc., you have to drink a shot of whiskey.  Now imagine you are told you have to take a shot of whiskey every time the BOCC has to vote on an issue that involves a Republican party platform issue.  You are going to go home sober as a judge with a liver ailment. Why? Because counties do not generally discuss gun control.  The BOCC is not going to decide on whether the local Planned Parenthood is on the wrong side of the abortion issue.  The commissioners are not going to decide whether voter suppression is a "thing" in the county. Nope, they are going to discuss revenue generation.  They are going to decide on contracts for services.  They are going to green light or red light loans on road graders, police cars and perhaps a vehicle for the coroner.  And even when they do discuss something that is remotely political in nature, because it is a one party show, the decisions are all foregone conclusions.  The cake is baked and so nobody generally even bothers to watch the process unfold.  I contend that it has been this way for decades here and will remain so for years unless we grow so much that our rural roots disappear.  That's when those pesky liberals show up.

Party politics out here are more of a social club.  They are great for breakfasts, weenie roasts and the occasional clay sporting event.  That is the closest the rural folks of any political persuasion actually get to party platform issues.  They can quiz each other on which talk radio show host just eviscerated a person from the opposition or  how unfair it is that rural Americans hold such little sway at the state capital or in Washington DC.   It is just the way it is.  And because we are all human and all creatures of habit, things rarely change.

I can't speak for all of the Eastern Plains, but I am pretty aware of how things work here in Elbert County.  I think the days of this model of politics has outlived its usefulness. We can all agree the party balance out here is not going to change anytime soon.  That fact alone guarantees we are going to get whomever the party bosses put up to run for office.  So why are the candidates not vetted by the party rank and file on issues that will preserve this "rural lifestyle" with which we are so enamored?  Why are they still asking the inevitable Republican candidates if they are sporting Bald Eagle briefs or if they know all the verses to the National Anthem? Are we really so naive to believe that some sort of arbitrary litmus test of patriotism will distinguish who is best suited to make a decision about growth or budgetary management? Do you really care if your tax lawyer who is keeping the government from garnishing your wages knows whether Ronald Reagan had a heart shaped mole on his butt or whether he graduated first in his class at Denver University Law School?  

Look, you already have won the next election.  What do you want from your  elected local Republican officials? I do not get a say because I am from the diminutive party which has not seen a Democrat in office in Kiowa since Bob Hall was a commissioner.  There are first time voters here today in this county who were not even born the last time a Democratic commissioner signed a simple mylar document, let alone make a policy decision.  

Stop worrying about the Democrats out here coming to destroy your  hay bale Shangri-La.  Worry instead about the party that you have taken for granted, the Elbert County Republicans.  At a minimum, at least show up and ask your elected officials to explain what motivates the decisions they are making. After all, this is a critical period in terms of growth here in our beloved county.  If you want to be relevant, then you have to hold your politicians accountable.  If there is no way to actually make party politics meaningful in rural Colorado then at least demand that your elected officials provide you with a meaningful future.  Speak up! They are certainly not going to ask for my opinion, but they might listen to yours.