AT LARGE VERSUS DISTRICT ELECTION

"Honey, there's a community organizer in the ballot box"

 

Opinion by Allan McNew

 

They say that the only constant is change, and the city of Banning, California is about to get a big dose of that with the move from at large elections to the population being represented by districts.

While it will happen, as it is the law, at least in California, and legal vultures have plenty of incentive to make loads of money off of resistant communities, perhaps there are a few considerations to be taken. And, there is no doubt in my mind that there will be threatened lawsuits over how the districts are formed, that one classification or another of the population are under-represented or that the the districts are gerrymandered to produce one political result or another.

I have heard for years that Sun Lakes residents have a lock on city affairs. On the other hand, I understand that the number of those who participate in casting ballots in Banning roughly equals the population of Sun Lakes. While districting will shake up local politics, it's not likely to change voting habits by itself. (Sun Lakes is a gated retirement community with a golf course in Banning)

Where there will be a problem, whether or not voting habits change, is if activists from out of town show up with an agenda, ideological or other, and take up residency to either directly seek election in order to meddle in local government or agitate as “community organizers” to manipulate a political outcome. It could happen with homegrown activists who will have connections for outside guidance and funding.

“Community organizers” pick at scabbed over wounds, or if there are no wounds they'll work to convince the target population that they've been hurt. They turn people against one another, create extreme community polarity in order to effect the sort of change they desire. They agitate among people who are low income and minimally educated, among those who don't vote or aren't eligible to vote, putting forth a world view of “haves”, “have nots” and “have some, want more” while promising a land of milk and honey if the “have nots” “arise and claim what's theirs”. There is a personal conspiracy, the script says, by the “rich and powerful” from city hall to local business to Wall Street to keep each and every one of them down. A threadbare shop owner struggling to keep his business open could be a “rich and powerful exploiter” by the definitions “community organizers” work by.

However, “community organizers” never bring jobs and all they produce is grievance and turmoil while provoking angry, exploitable reactions from their targets in order to take power. What has almost a hundred years of community organizing done for Chicago? It hasn't changed the “have nots” into “have some, want more” much less “haves” and the place is now a veritable war zone, with an ongoing body count of cumulative thousands over the years that rarely makes the news. They say it's safer to be a soldier or marine in Iraq and Afghanistan than to be a civilian in Chicago.

No one has a crystal ball, who knows what will happen with forced district election in Banning and Chicago might be an extreme example. However all the bickering and petty squabbles the city has had for generations may well pale before it, and ultimately those who don't vote now probably won't be any better off after the change from at large to district election.

 

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary