Party politics is the facilitator for bad government

Partisan politics has made some people loyal to some very wrong people.
Take for instance a recent discussion on a local message board speculating whether long time school board member Mark Davis is going to run for school superintendent.
Everyone agreed Davis has shown great leadership as a board member, but it wasn’t long before someone brought up his party affiliation. Davis is a Democrat – an unapologetic Democrat.
The next comment lamented how that was too bad for Davis because lots of people would have otherwise voted for him.
That just doesn’t make sense, especially at our local level. It’s not as if a Democratic school superintendent would caucus with other Democratic superintendents and do some shady deal to teach sex ed to kindergarteners.
Most offices just aren’t political in nature in Walton County. Sure members of the Board of County Commissioners have differing opinions on certain topics but it’s not a Republican vs. Democratic stance. It has more to do with each commissioner’s personal values and perspective.
At the national, state or even regional level, party politics can be critical. Remember last year’s politicking over a resolution to oppose President Bush’s plan to increase the number of troops in Iraq? Initially both Republicans and Democrats supported the resolution. Talks quickly broke down not just because Democrats and Republicans could not agree to the language, but members within the Republican Party could not agree on how strongly worded the resolution should be.
Party politics is what make the political engines run. Political parties fund campaigns for their candidates. Political party leaders set the policies and then hammer elected officials into the mold they have designed for them. Politicians dare not disappoint party leaders lest they lose of their party and thereby lose support for their next bill, proposal or election.
But on a county level, our county level, our elected officials should not be afraid of what his or her party will do if he or she votes on what road should or should not be paved. That’s just silly.
Voters should be able to look at a candidate’s true abilities when considering whom to vote for. Blind loyalty to an organization that continues to morph itself according to the prevailing winds of opinion may build a strong block of voters but it is certainly no guarantee of good leadership.