Small Town Politics Was Indeed Fun, But Tough On Losers.
Posted: Thursday, February 26, 2009
by Mike Fak
http://mikefak.com
Well the city of Lincoln had their primary, which in these parts means we had our general election. As no one is running on the Democratic ticket, the Republican winners have nothing to worry about in April's general election.
When I lived in Chicago many years ago, it was the exact opposite with Democrats controlling the election process and both situations are a shame. I don't think it is healthy for a democracy for any party to have a strangle hold on an area but that is the way it is. We did have choices locally, so I am thankful for that.
They talked about issues, said what they were for and what they were against and never once was there a disparaging word said about each other. Almost a miracle isn't it?
To be honest, I had a favorite and the gentleman won with 72% of the vote. If ever this town had a mandate I imagine this would be the case.
It has to be tough running for an office and then losing no matter how large or small the district but especially in smaller communities. In a way every election is a popularity contest and every candidate not only gets accolades thrown their way if they win but also on Election Day can surely feel terrible in the event they lose. In a small town, if you lose an election, there really isn't anywhere to hide.
I knew everyone running for mayor or city alderman. And although I enjoyed giving congratulations to my friends I didn't enjoy giving condolences to my other friends who made all the area papers as losers. Being written about as having lost an election has to be tough. In the event you lose by a really large margin it has to be tougher. Like I said, an election is a popularity contest and now the whole world knows you aren't as popular as someone else.
That's why I admire all the folks who run in their communities for school boards, and city councils and county boards and city offices.
In small town America, it certainly isn't for the money. In fact in most small towns the pay is terribly low but still we can have elections because we have people willing to give their time and efforts to try and make things better for the rest.
So far our city has been fairly insulated from the economic woes befalling the country. Yes, we lost a Papa Johns Pizza and a Goodys but those were corporate decisions made by people far removed from our community. We have had some cutbacks at a factory but still, being heavily agricultural, we are hanging in there.
Still like small cities everywhere, we are facing tough times. Roads need repair and replacement. Services need to be maintained or bolstered. New businesses must be lured to take the place of those that leave. All these things have to be accomplished with less money coming in and less help from the state and federal government.
All those factors make it hard to believe someone would want to run for office in a small town.
But somehow just about every town our size has an election process where we have a choice if only on one side of a political ticket. It makes me feel thankful not only for all the winners out there who want to help but also for all those who lost and probably feel bad about themselves right now.
I do hope that feeling passes soon for them. They gave us one of the greatest gifts we can have in a democracy. They gave us a choice. That makes us all winners and I hope they understand that special gift they presented to all of us. They might have lost an election but they deserve our thanks. If it wasn't for all of them, we would have been the losers.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Oh my gosh. I want to move there. No democrats? That sounds like heaven to me. LOL. Cute story. Yes, I can imagine it would be tough to lose a race in a small town where everyone knows you, but everyone also knows that you took a chance and put your views out there for others to agree or disagree with and most of us aren't brave enough to do that. So even the losers won. I seriously am moving there. I am tired of the socialist democrats in my area convincing people that the only way to solve problems around here is for us to turn over all of our freedom and money to the government.Thanks Laura. Don't get too excited our weather is miserable and the Democrats say the bad weather is the Republicans' fault.Thanks for stopping byMike
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