Reply #7: My argument is based on practicality.

[davsand]

Ya know what? I am about as left as it gets. Many of the Dems here ARE left of the mainstream as far as Dems go. That is FINE in the urban areas--works for the voters, and left leaning candidates do fine. Those Greens could win IF they play the game and take advantage of the party machine by running in primaries. That, however, is NOT what they have chosen to do.

This is not some exercise in political science in some U of IL classroom--this is real life. These elections impact on thousands of people's lives, and clinging to the dream of creating a new party is a nice ideal, but simply not feasible for now. What they are doing now is putting several important elements of county government at risk, nothing more.

IF it means risking that the GOP wins control of that board back again because a handful of Greens wants to try and prove a point, then, yeah, I will fight tooth and nail to keep illegal candidates from going on that ballot and draining votes off viable Dem candidates.

I have fought for nifty little ideals like protection for the GLBT workers in the county--THAT will be gone if the GOP regains control of that board.

You can kiss the county public health dept goodbye as well--the GOP HATES that idea--and in doing that you will place the rural residents in a situation where they are without important services. You have NO idea of how awful the county restaurants were before they began to inspect them regularly...

Along with that, you can kiss responsible bidder ordinances farewell, along with any real attempt to help minority contractors gain a foothold.

Workers will not have contraceptive coverage, possibly NO coverage for health care. THAT is another battle that has been hard won, along with another ideal we have been working toward which is coverage for same gender partners of workers. (Trust me, you do NOT want to hear about the conversation I had with one of the GOPiglets on that board who felt it was "just ridiculous" for the county insurance to pay for women's birth control pills...)

Frankly, I resent being treated the way I have been here. Not many of you live here, I bet. You want to call it my true colors, but I bet that not ONE of you can tell me the voter demographics in those ares where the Greens are trying to prove a point. Let me clue you in: If they pull too many votes off the Dems you can bet that the GOP WILL regain control of that board.

Call me a Dem party animal, call me narrow minded, call me any damn thing you want, but I'll fight you to the mat to protect the ideals we have accomplished and continue to work toward. This is high stakes stuff for those of us who live here, and the poly sci experiments need to be conducted someplace else.


Laura