Candidates should try extra hard to connect with voters in a one-party dominated county

Editor:

In a previous editorial, Jim Pratt encouraged people to start thinking more about the status quo that is prevalent in Orleans County politics.

Leaders and active members of political parties want you to trust their recommendation for a particular candidate based on their say so, with few reasons to justify their support. The crookedness in politics today is one good reason not to take all that a political party tells you at face value.

Candidates, together with political parties, need to provide more information to help voters make informed decisions for whom to support. It takes time to put this information out and for voters to read, however many problems we see in government today might be lessened if voters had the facts needed to choose the best candidates for the positions.

The actions of politicians, ever more blatant, serving themselves rather than serving the people they are supposed to represent has become the norm in politics. They use a network of like-minded party members, keeping them in power to affect the changes they want to take place.

County workers and leaders function as a “large and in charge” family with everyone in the group supporting the political agenda set forth by the leaders. The name for this type of corruption in government is “nepotism.” This is what keeps Orleans County functioning or dis-functioning the way it has for many years.

Government leaders provide jobs and in return the workers vote for these leaders to retain their jobs. The more jobs, the more votes for leaders. This is how the government network keeps government growing.

We have many supportive community members participating in county government who have done a good job, however, for some, it can be difficult to maintain the truths and beliefs they ascribe to when pressured by other party members of the group with conflicting ideas. The “go along to get along” mentality usually prevails in most cases, causing the few with righteous beliefs to cave to remain a member of the group in power.

It would be more advantageous to have a few more Democrats or even an independent candidate participating in county government to balance our current one-sided system. Maybe it would be even better if all candidates stood as individuals, not endorsed by any party. People would then be able to make their own informed decision for whom they vote based on what each candidate professed, rather than being influenced by political parties.

Individual candidates, regardless of political affiliation, who wish to be elected to serve in public office need to communicate their ideas and solutions across multiple platforms to improve Orleans County for all who live here. Ideas for sharing resources and reducing duplicate services among other things, needs to prevail to lessen the burden of ever growing government on the residents of Orleans County.

The outcome of county government should be to empower all county residents to achieve success without dependency on government. Shrinking county government is the first step toward enabling the people, who are overburdened paying for it, the resources they need to achieve a better quality of life in Orleans County.

The best government is the least government and the least government is the most efficient government. I encourage you to support leaders who have your best interests in mind.

Gary Deiboldt

Albion