2009

Posted by Bob on February 13, 2009 under Daily Blogs | Be the First to Comment

Elections should be about choosing a candidate who best represents a voter’s hopes and dreams. Unfortunately campaigns often play to a voter’s fears as a way to win support.

2008 was a historic year in American political history culminating in voters electing our Nation’s first African-American president in Barack Obama. Despite many criticisms of then-candidate Obama ranging from his religious background to his relative inexperience all the way to the fact that he had a “funny name”, Americans chose their hope and dreams over their fears and elected Barack Obama as our forty-third president.

Here in Naugatuck we are poised to turn the page on the problems of our past and begin to write a new chapter to the Borough’s proud history. To do so we must have faith in our hopes and dreams.

Our campaign offers voters the opportunity to learn about my background, my qualifications and my positions on the issues. We have articulated a vision of how we can come together and begin to positively change our community. In addition, we have provided many ways that voters can interact with our campaign, ask comments and offer solutions to Naugatuck’s problems.

We are interested in Naugatuck’s hopes and dreams. One would be surprised as to how the things that unite us far outweigh our divisions. People who spend a few minutes to share their concerns are not asking for local government to solve all their problems, only to act in an intelligent, efficient and honest manner. They wonder why taxes continue to increase, what is happening to lure new business or how their children will get a quality education with dwindling resources. Despite what appears to be a government that has failed us, voters still maintain the hope that Naugatuck can still be the community we have always dreamed it could be with a little focus and the right leadership. I personally enjoy talking with and listening to my fellow citizens speak about improving Naugatuck.

Not every campaign operates like ours. Some campaigns will look to play to voters’ fears rather than inspire hope or discuss solutions. Developing networks of political patronage has unfortunately been a part of politics for a long time. Old style campaigning is predicated on politicians doing “favors” for people in exchange for votes.

Some candidates still subscribe to this philosophy. Under the premise, individual voters owe everything they have in life to a politician and should provide support to that politician accordingly. If an individual fails to support the politician, that individual will be subject to the politician’s wrath after the election. Since the politician views government in the context of give and take, issues and core beliefs take a back seat to political posturing and expediency. Under this stale philosophy, attempts to woe voters is not accomplished by talking about ideas and solutions; but by identifying people as homogeneous groups and assuming all members of a particular group better fall in line behind the politician that they “owe”.

The sad part about prying on people’s fears in this manner is the lack of respect for the individual voter. People who have achieved success in life do so in large part as a result of their own actions and choices. No one in Naugatuck has been given anything that they have not earned through hard work, intelligence and individual talent. The concept that an individual received a job, was appointed to a commission or was recognized with an award as a result of a king-maker candidate or political boss is an anachronism that has no place in finding solutions to the problems of our day.

The time has never been better to make the changes we need to improve Naugatuck. I urge all voters to learn as much as possible about the candidates running to be the head of a ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLAR-PLUS corporation that is the Borough of Naugatuck. Vote this coming election for the candidate with the best credentials, qualifications and plans to make a better Naugatuck. Naugatuck voters do not owe anything to politicians. On the contrary, it is the responsibility of all candidates to convince you why you should support one candidate over the others.

Your hopes and dreams are too important to vote any other way.