Warning: Long read ahead(!), wherein the writer considers and comments upon the increased partisanship in the most recent municipal elections in Melrose – and the prospects for governance going forward. If our local elections have become more partisan, then it stands to reason that our local government will, in the months and years ahead, grow to reflect that same partisanship. And so it will be that political values, both liberal and conservative, will come to be seen more clearly in our local government’s discussions, debates, and decision-making. While close observers of local government have always known who’s who (and who’s what, politically-speaking) – that “so-and-so is a conservative,” and “that one there, yeah, she’s a real liberal” – logic dictates that clearly partisan campaigns will engender much more obviously partisan governance. And I say, let’s embrace it. Just as with the partisan electioneering, let’s recognize its value and make the most of it. More pointedly, from a governance standpoint, let us take up the responsibility that has devolved to us from the state and federal governments. More pointedly still, let us seize the opportunity to model for all to see what good, constructive partisanship looks like. Let us each embrace the political values that best represent our personal principles and beliefs, let us identify with the political parties that best represent those values, and let us engage with the issues of the day on the basis of those values, understanding full well that there are competing interests and viewpoints, that hard discussions and debates will have to be had, and that even harder compromises will have to be made, but that all of it – all of it – is necessary in service to the public good, and in furtherance of the principles of democracy.
As mentioned previously, I rejected political affiliation several years ago. I did so after a lifetime of inculcation in the values of the Democratic Party. Raised in an Irish-Catholic household, with a firefighter grandfather and my dad a police officer, there was no doubt where their or my politics lay. We were Democrats. Everyone we knew was a Democrat. It’s just the way it was. And as a young adult, I naturally and actively engaged in local, state, and Congressional campaigns, always on behalf of Democratic candidates – or, on the local, historically non-partisan level, those candidates who embodied the Democratic traditions. An active member of my Democratic Ward Committee in my former home city, Cambridge, I was eventually elected as a member of the Democratic State Committee. Upon moving to Melrose some twenty years ago, I dutifully joined the local Democratic City Committee. Eventually though, I left the party and joined the ranks of so many others who had simply decided that political affiliation was a means of perpetuating the parties themselves rather than a force for protecting and advancing the interests of the people. I and others switched to “unenrolled” in silent protest to the status quo. So silent, in fact, that no one seemed to hear us. Indeed, rather than our protest having any positive effect, we instead effectively disengaged ourselves from the electoral process, relegating our collective voice to the disaffected sidelines, with the electorate’s tremendous disaffection only recently roaring to life in the 2017 Presidential election. And speaking of which: does anyone really think that the Republican Party won the Presidency? Or that the Democratic Party, with a majority of the popular vote, really lost the election? To my way of thinking, both parties lost the Presidency, much in the same way that both parties lost the majority of the electorate over the past several years. Playing to the fringe, misidentifying same as your “base” while neglecting and/or abusing and/or simply misleading mainstream America, is no way to campaign – and a recipe for disaster when it comes to governance. Yet this is exactly what the major parties have accomplished.
So it is that decidedly local political partisanship is gaining sway. The feds have failed, the states have stagnated, and local government is left as, apparently, the only “adults” in the room. As one of those adults, as a local elected official, I have decided to give up my unenrolled voter status, my largely futile silent protest, and to engage the electorate, and the issues of the day, as a member of the Democratic Party. And I encourage others to do the same, whether Democrat or Republican. It’s time to get off the unenrolled sidelines, people, and suit up, “R” or “D.” The point is to engage, to debate, to discuss, to influence, to vote, and to serve our democracy. The parties are a means of doing all of that, practically and effectively – and locally. And if we do that at the local level, we can collectively bring about a brand – or brands – of politics that we can all live with.
As for our local elected officials, myself included, we have a special responsibility, for as we embrace our respective political affiliations, we must understand that we are being called upon by our constituents – indeed, our families, friends, and neighbors – to embrace a shared set of political beliefs and values while at the same time protecting and advancing the public good. Whether we like it or not, we must be a model for good, effective governance. We are most certainly the last bulwark in a democracy beset by demagoguery and dysfunction, by incapacity and inaction, by apathy and anger. Those of us in local government know, of course, that we have no choice. The roadways have to be in good repair and cleared of snow, the schools have to be the best they can be, the trash has to be picked up, and on and on. Unlike those higher up the political food chain, when we don’t perform in the public interest, we’re soon out of office. And that’s as it should be. Today, however, our responsibility extends beyond local boundaries, for if we on the local level can’t effectively engage the electorate through party politics, and then effectively govern as elected partisans, then who really can or will? And at the end of the day it’s really not about us. We have a shared responsibility to get things right, to “set the table” properly for those who come after us. Our responsibility is as much about tomorrow as today.
I for one am committed to meeting that responsibility. I will do so as a proud member of the Democratic Party. Others will do so as Republicans. I will applaud them for their engagement and I will respect their views and values. I will also contest them at every political turn – and I trust they will return the favor. Such is politics. Such is democracy. And, at the end of the day, we’ll share a drink and remind ourselves and each other that we’re in it for the right reasons, in service to others, for the public good. And that matters. It’s party time.
Ed O’Connell is Vice-Chair of the Melrose School Committee
fredrichlariccia says
Thank you my friend, Ed O’Connell, for sharing your brilliantly written, fascinating political odyssey with us.
As a modern day prodigal son, welcome home to our beloved Democratic family.
jconway says
I really appreciate these thoughtful comments and encourage you to keep writing. I became locally disgusted with the Democratic Party as an incumbent protection racket that maintained our abysmally mediocre legislature in all its misbegotten glory. The vast majority of unenrolled voters, the silent majority of MA voters, share this broad frustration with politics and gridlock and we tried to unite them in a new party. For a variety of reasons it didn’t work, yet what you’re doing and what I’m doing, rejoining the Democrats and pushing them to be a better party is exactly the right reaction to this national emergency. Hopefully we can still be vocal agitators for change within this flawed but necessary party and engaged more effectively in a way we weren’t on the partisan sidelines.
Charley on the MTA says
I think people get confused about what a political party is, and what it’s for. It is *not* primarily a moral entity dedicated to a particular set of values — though things naturally sort themselves out that way. It is an infrastructure by which the work of gaining and sharing power is accomplished. Whether within or without, we get too caught up in the notion of “party loyalty” as a proxy for values. The party is the car; it’s not the destination. I know I can’t get to where I want without it.
fredrichlariccia says
” The party is the car; not the destination.” Charley on the MTA
Or another way of understanding it : The party is the means to the end; not the end.
jconway says
Car not the destination is a good way of putting it. I think that allows us to focus on the individual candidates and causes we support, who happen to be driving that car for their individual destinations, and the broader party which has a lot of people driving the same car for the wrong reasons. Bad Democrats are not an indictment of the Democratic Party per se, but the party system itself. They’ve always been there and they always will be. We just have to work to make sure the good outnumber the bad. Competitive primaries are just the way to make this happen and keep incumbents honest while elevating new faces into positions of power.