I honestly cannot see how anyone can get at all worked up about supporting
Mr. McLaughlin or Mr. Rybak for mayor.
Both play the political game of trying to identify hot-button issues, make
unkeepable promises, and smear their opponent. The Mayor's race is all
about pseudo-democracy: give people a show and be sure that nothing will
change.
Candidates Rybak and McLaughlin refuse to lead the people to focus on the
real issues we face. These two candidates will make public policy choices
from the same menu that has dominated Minneapolis politics for thirty years
or more, and which have gotten us deeper into debt and increasingly
dependent upon huge corporations whose primary role is to suck wealth out of
Minneapolis.
Our Minneapolis environment is more polluted and depleted. Our
infrastructure is more energy-intensive and demands more violence to
support it. Our population is more divided along race and class lines and
demands more violence to "keep the rabble in line." Same old Minneapolis
politics continue with the same results. The status quo is preserved.
Both candidates make use of the same old "special interest" political
tactics that make things worse. Voters are divided into groups with
"special interests" so that no clear vision of our future needs to be
articulated. Every candidate can make promises to various special interest
groups and can criticize the other candidate to various special interest
groups.
People often vote based on the hope that a candidate will address their
particular issue. Office holders do their best to placate special interest
groups with little programs and policy changes, but there is no vision or
coherence in public policy.
So no issues are addressed with vision or depth. New campaigns bring
another round of opportunities for people to talk about hot-button issues
and another opportunity for politicians to play political musical chairs.
We are unable to understand or respond to the cues our environment is giving
us. We have become politically paralyzed and comfortably numb. We suffer
from a desperate lack of vision and a corresponding desperate lack of
movement. For all the "smooth tactical moves" of the political
establishment we are simply repeating the same mistakes over and over again.
Perhaps politics is a poor way to work for change?
-- pedaling for peace and ecojustice from Lynhurst for now -- Gary Hoover
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