Allport engages in partisan fearmongering, stirs anti-government cynicism
Editor:
After reading some recent letters to the editor, I have to agree – these are trying times.
As a resident of Orleans County, I believe our community deserves leadership grounded in truth, rather than partisan fearmongering and unverified talking points.
In a recent letter, County Legislator Don Allport presented several claims that do not hold up under the simplest scrutiny. Rather than respond to the recitation of those familiar alarmist points about Socialism, I’ll keep this focused on the truth as relates to our election.
No one in Orleans County can vote for someone who is endorsed by the Democratic Socialist Party or who is running a campaign to advance items from their platform.
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about what we can vote for. We should expect that a candidate taking the time to assert historical claims in the local news source would fact check them prior to writing. I have heard Don speak about history, particularly the revolutionary war, with the accuracy and reverence it is due. This leaves me particularly confused regarding the following assertions:
Allport: One vote decided our national language.
Truth: Unless we’re considering the 2025 executive order by the current president, the US does not actually have an officially designated language, and there was never a risk of this occurring were it not for a singular vote.
It’s likely that Mr. Allport refers to the persistent myth stemming from a group of new citizens in Virginia, German speakers, who requested that some of the laws be copied over into German so that they could be readily followed by that populace. The “one vote” difference was not even whether to copy over the laws in German for the residents, rather it was a vote resolving to table the issue and take it up another time. It was defeated 42-41, and the actual measure did not come to the floor.
Allport: The ’60 presidential election was lost by Nixon due to one vote in each election district in Illinois.
Truth: Back in 1960, the path to 270 was actually the path to 269, the number of electoral votes needed then to secure the office of President-elect. Even if the 27 electoral votes from Illinois had gone to Nixon rather than JFK, Kennedy still would have prevailed with 276 votes.
Allport: An earlier Nixon presidency would have prevented so much of the upheaval of the ’60s, including Vietnam, the JFK assassination, and Kent State.
Truth: If we are going to judge Nixon by his fruit, we may find it hard to believe that the man who delayed peace talks through Anna Chenault (something well documented in US historical documents including Haldeman’s own declassified notes) and then carpet bombed Cambodia while hiding it by falsifying military records – resulting directly in the Kent State massacre, would somehow have been the peace president he claimed in word but never deed.
As for the JFK assassination, I don’t think that he would have been shot in November of 1963 if he was not the sitting US president, so perhaps that one could have been averted if the election outcome was reversed.
Back in the local arena, attacking federal safety net programs ignores the reality that low-income residents in Orleans County rely on these services. Would the county choose not to offer them if they were not mandated or supported by federal and state support? An average house assessed at $200,000 paid around $1,600 in county taxes last January. Of that, nearly half of it (roughly $700) paid into Medicaid. This money solely funds healthcare to residents of our county.
Because the most recent census shows that the median household income in Orleans County is $65,969, the median taxpayer spends 1.06% of their annual gross income on healthcare for their neighbors. Maybe there’s a better plan. Maybe there’s a better method of implementing the current plan. But I bet it doesn’t involve calling homes in the county where we all live a cesspool – literally household sewage.
Elected officials should welcome community observation and transparency rather than promoting anti-government cynicism or attacking media credibility. I have met most of the elected officials in this county and, regardless of party affiliation, do not believe that a single person running for or holding office here did so for any motivation but one: to make their community a better place the best way that they know how.
It’s disingenuous to attempt to distinguish local office holders from “politicians.” Government is the system, politics is the method. We should expect all of our elected officials to work methodically to advance good government for the residents they serve.
Therefore, it’s alarming to hear a local politician, writing in his personal capacity, to both misrepresent facts in history and to describe a fear of being watched.
A truth that we do agree on, and the most important truth being advanced in each letter, is that each vote does in fact count and not nearly enough of our neighbors are exercising that right.
Because our elections are how we choose who represents our interests best, I hope that the truth weighs heavily in your decision-making process this year.
See you at the polls,
Jess Marciano
Medina
Marciano is a trustee on the Medina Village Board.
