Mansfield: Politics as Usual … and I Absolutely Love It

The Political Season kicked off early this year with a well-attended meeting of the 11th Congressional District Caucus at John Adams High School on Saturday (April 17) which featured four of the declared candidates for the county executive job. Congresswoman Fudge has mastered the knack of turning out her base and the well-organized event was a prelude of things to come as this race heats up.

After all these years it finally struck me that the popularity of political events partially lies in the fact they’re like a funeral — you get to see old faces you haven’t seen in ages, but no one is dead — at least not yet. And, some people you thought were dead are still alive and kicking. It was like a homecoming, family reunion and wedding gathering all rolled into one.

The exalted — and often ill-founded — feelings of hope, promise and new beginnings is virtually palpable at political gatherings. The bite of the political bug is rarely fatal, but it can (and often does) make people do strange things … such as completely forgetting about things in one’s past that voters have a right to know if they are to make an informed decision. But, in truth, grassroots politics (even when it degenerates to a form of mud wrestling) is the vital lifeblood that keeps our Republic alive and vibrant. And that applies even to Tea Baggers, just as long as they don’t turn what should be a spirited game into a blood sport.

However, when little differentiates the candidates in terms of ideology or worldview (even the lone Republican at this faux beauty pageant was sounding like a Democrat) as was the case at the John Adams event, their fallback positions is to promise more than the other guys: If candidate A says they will create a thousand jobs, then candidate B has to top that and promise to create two thousand … ad infinitum. It’s like bidding on eBay.

Before you know it the promises become totally outlandish … and everyone walks away thinking that two smoke-and-mirrors jobs are going to be created for them … but no one should hold their breath waiting on a paycheck. Heed this: Be very cautious of those candidates who over-promise … they’re bound to under-deliver … they always do.

The fact is that government, especially county government, really was not designed to create jobs — if that were the case we would already have the new jobs that are about to be promised like so much manna from Heaven. Candidates are skilled at sticking their fingers into the political winds to see which way they are blowing, and then making promises accordingly. Personally, I’d rather vote for the candidate that tells me the truth, not one that simply tries to rock me to sleep with overblown promises they cannot deliver on.

In spite of the flowery rhetoric I heard, not one of the candidates I saw on the stage appeared appreciably smarter, savvier or more dedicated than Jabez Wright, Nathaniel Doane, and Philo Taylor (the first commissioners who took office 200 years ago) or any others that have held the reigns of county government to this point. Is this new crew of hopefuls going to promise they possess some exotic nepenthe that will ameliorate all of our sufferings, ills and financial shortcomings … and somehow turn the crooked river straight?

Granted, the New Deal created WPA jobs during the Depression, and certainly stimulus money from Washington has created a smattering of new jobs recently, but historically the primary role of county governments — across the U.S. — has been to provide a social safety net for those in need; certainly development planning can be part of that purview, but if anyone is foolish enough to drink the Kool-Aid and start hallucinating that a new form of government and a new county executive is going to magically solve our county’s employment woes … they are setting themselves up for a big, big disappointment.

I couldn’t stay around to hear the answers to all the questions asked of candidates, but I have three for each of them: 1. what do you think of the new charter that was passed? 2. why was Court reform left off the table? 3. if elected, what three things would you promise never to do?

If the new county council executive is able to create any jobs at all they will be in the construction sector; will the new county executive finally force the construction unions to play fair and assure that every racial group is represented on job sites proportionally, and will they assure that the contracts are awarded fairly … or will it be exclusionary business as usual?

Changing Subjects

On my way out of the building I stopped in the men’s room just north of the auditorium and was appalled at the condition of the facility. I’m not talking about some minor disarray from use that day, or even the day before … I’m talking about a systemic failure on the part of the person in charge of keeping the facility clean. This was old, accumulated crud in a virtually new building. For these conditions to exist is absolutely shameful.

Of course the derelict staff will point an accusatory finger at the students and say, “You know how these kids are!” However, they are getting a paycheck and not performing all of their duties; could it be they are unionized and therefore feel they don’t have to exert much effort?

The problem is, if such obvious stuff as routine maintenance of restrooms is being ignored, what else concerning the physical plant is being ignored? Where’s the principal, does he or she know? Where’s the School Board, do they care? My tax dollars help to build that school, and I damn sure care. Our kids deserve better. Someone please show this article to school officials from Dr. Eugene Sanders down. I’m not expecting Ritz-Carlton standards … after all it is a school building, but this is absolutely disgraceful and should not be allowed to continue.


From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://www.frombehindthewall.com.

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3 Responses to “Mansfield: Politics as Usual … and I Absolutely Love It”

  1. Love to see my tax dollars getting the respect they deserve by our civic institutions. As usual, you’re right on…

  2. The “man” Mansfield!

  3. Jim MacDowell

    Mr. Frazier,

    If the bathrooms were in a deplorable state at John Adams High school then the person or people responsible for that cleaning task and not a union will change this condition. Cleaners answer to the head custodian at the building. The custodians answer to people in a chain of command in the C.M.S.D. administration. If this problem is to be remedied then those are the people to inspire and to energize to the value of this task.

    To leap across a logical chasm and cite unions as an offending, evil, protector of all that one finds lacking in life is a mistake. Ample and adequate steps are in place in the collectively bargained contracts agreed upon between management and labor. To cite the union as the responsible entity for a lack of quality in the production process ignores the joint agreement to share responsibility for the product between both labor and management. Further, it ignores the value unions have brought to all of us that work for a living.

    What do you think?

    Sincerely,

    Jim MacDowell,
    Fellow citizen

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