Public Comment
Voting
Editor's Note: When we referred to "formerly", we meant 15 or more years ago.
“In the city of Santa Cruz, the “Democratic Party” hacks endorsed the right wing slate, and since it was an at-large election conservatives now control this formerly progressive council. “ – Berkeley Daily Planet editorial, November 07, 2014
Setting aside whether Santa Cruz’s previous city council majority, which casually criminalized sleeping, can be appropriately called “progressive”, the election isn’t really confusing at all. Political parties are simply being treated as the relatively meaningless entities they have become. When “green” is interpreted as dense, open-space-free high-rise development and “progressive” includes efforts to criminalize poverty, many voters prefer, understandably, to call themselves independent of any party affiliation.
Slate politics and big money can still sink a grassroots effort like Measure R, but the real story is the record-breaking absence of eligible voters who voted – even in Richmond. If all the whiners who didn’t vote in this election had turned out at the polls, we would be living in a very different world.
I personally wish people would focus a lot less on who gets into office, and more on making sure our citizenry is educated, focused, aware of the way buzzwords can be used to deceive, knowledgeable about the issues and capable of parsing the false choices elections often present. Any candidate of any stripe who finds himself or herself representing a focused, educated, and alert electorate has a very different job to do than one whose only pressure comes from the local developer.
