Some Political Musings

Posted by Bob Greenberger on October 11, 2006

Somehow it is days after I intended to last post.

A lot of the delay has been a distinct lack of time. We had Deb’s parents up for the weekend, plus visiting with my octogenarian aunt and uncle plus a last-minute arrival from Robbie. Whoosh, the weekend was gone.

On Monday, the Democratic Town Committee held its monthly meeting and my schedule finally let me attend one after missing the last two. Our District Leaders’ meeting was the usual assortment of stuff we’ve hashed through before and some new ideas which certainly had merit so I hope we act on them in the near future.

The main meeting was unusual in that we had a nice, healthy discussion regarding the best way to get the dems’ message across to the voters. Also, what has been working and not working among the various campaigns. Fairfield is in a unique situation in that we have not only some very active state races but the Congressional campaign between incumbent Chris Shays and two-time challenger Diane Farrell. Word has it that particular race is one of the tightest being watched in Washington.

On the local level as it is on the national level, the democrats seem to be having trouble getting the word out. Nationally, they just don’t seem to be unified with a message or an agenda. Locally, we’re dealing with a tremendous amount of voter apathy. To them, Governor Jodi Rell is a nice lady, a cancer survivor and must be doing a good job. She has an excellent approval rating but I wonder how many voters know her position on a variety of issues. While I missed her debate with challenger John DeStefano, the coverage on Tuesday did not make her sound like she had a vision I can subscribe to.

In my state district, the 132nd, Tom Drew the incumbent, mailed out a slick flyer that had two columns. One listing his promises from the last election and one listing his actually accomplishments. I only wish more candidates could and would do that so voters can measure for themselves if a change is required. The republicans are hammering the message that we need a change. My question is why? Tom’s accomplished a lot, and in a democratically-controlled House, you want someone like him who seems interested in giving all sides a fair hearing. Not only that, he’s brought home some impressive bacon, including a $400,000 grant just within the last few weeks.

Everyone’s busy, I recognize that. Still, one of the reasons our country has endured and grown to be a super-power is its system of government. People have the right to vote and far too few exercise that right. And those that step in the polls should walk in better educated to the issues and candidate’s positions so they make informed choices and not just go with a party line ideology out of habit. But then again, you can’t have everything.

Doesn’t mean a guy can’t wish for everything, though.