Wednesday, August 15, 2007

News flash: Republicans disagree with Democrats

In as long as I have been covering towns, throughout this state, I have never seen so much ink given to an unwarranted topic as here. Case in point: Republicans campaign on the tax bills, at every committee session, and at every public event possible. On the tax bill it even says that Middletown is in the Top 100 places to live, and it actually isn't anymore.

Not even this paper has the space to deal with the obvious: Republican Party members on the committee seek re-election (they are politicians). That said, Mr. Short was voted in as a change candidate from the Democratic Party last year, and appears to be making good on that platform. If it is grandstanding, in my opinion, it is far more watered-down than I have witnessed in more than a decade at Courier from Republicans, who have at times taken self-congratulation to new heights.

The punchline: Republicans and Democrats are not in the same party. They are part of an adversarial political system created by the people who founded this country. If they did agree all the time, it would be wrong. When the two parties have different opinions and directions about government, then that is the flashpoint of our system of governance, and how reform happens or does not. It is sort of the point: See Civics 101.

The fact that Republicans and Democrats disagree is hardly a news flash. And the idea of a Republican mayor calling on a lone Democrat to step down for not agreeing with a majority whose policies he was elected to change is actually predictable to the point of humor.

Click on the headline and see the story at GM.

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