‘All politics are local’
Guest opinion by Maurice M.
Charlat
Maurice M. Charlat, of Ketchum,
is chairman of the Blaine County Central Committee of the Idaho State
Republican Party and former councilman on the Ketchum City Council.
Someone wiser than I said, "If you
don't know where you're going, any road will do." Recently we have been
treated to locally authored commentary suggesting everything from a
Constitutional Convention to determine what kind of a country we want,
to the tacky "Asses of Evil" buttons featuring our President, Vice
President, Secretary of Defense and Attorney General. Apologies from
Senator Stennett not withstanding, the level of rhetoric and commentary
has reached a nadir from which this county will have great difficulty
rising above anytime in the near future.
As I understand it the button
issue has traveled well beyond Blaine County, with its crude little
message signed by the presumptive Democrat candidate for President. Ken
Carwin, in his letter, declaimed the Democrats behavior during the
Democratic Idaho Caucus and rightly so. Senator Stennett apologized
offering something similar to the old saw, that some of his best friends
are Republicans a lot of whose support he enjoys, implying that it was
only the leadership of the Blaine County Republican Party that
complained. To set the record straight, the Blaine County Republican
Central Committee leadership has not previously complained about the
incident and from what I believe, those Republicans who were offended
were from the ranks of everyday Republicans who may not be rendering
such "enormous support" (Senator Stennett's words) for the Senator in
the future.
The foregoing, although somewhat
relevant to the debate in which we should be engaged, doesn't deal with
the road we belong on if we care about where we are going. Consider the
following:
- In Blaine County, we are
represented by Senator Stennett and Representative Jaquet. They
represent all of us, Democrats, Republicans and Independents. Blaine
County priorities should come first, along with the decorum and
civility required to retain respect for incumbents, candidates and
opponents alike.
- Officials elected by the
Blaine County electorate should focus the debate on city, county and
state issues. We want and expect unwavering support from our
elected officials at the levels that touch our every day lives.
Elected officials getting drawn into the national debate defuse our
focus on the issues that have the most to do with us here at home.
- Blaine County and the other
counties in legislative District 25 will experience an enormous
population increase in the very near future. Estimates double the
approximate 20,000 residents currently here now, to 40,000 by the year
2020. We will need all the help and energy we can muster to deal with
issues yet to surface. Help at the State level where our
Representatives operate is imperative to maintaining something close
to the way of life we have all come to expect here.
- This is a nice place to
live. Let's keep it that way. We're not living in a Doonesbury
political cartoon. Anger, slander, ridicule and sarcastic epithets
have no place in our everyday lives and no place in a community that
has long prided itself on the openness of its social structure and its
ability to deal with honest disagreement.
Any road is not good enough. In
the relatively near future we will face issues that include annexation,
airport development, highway development, traffic and parking, water
rights, affordable housing and retail space, economic development and
more. All while we attempt to intelligently preserve our very special
environment and retain our way of life. It's the everyday things that
shape our lives and that's where our leadership needs to concentrate. If
we come together and debate the important issues, the right road will be
revealed.