“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” — Edmund Burke
Election results last week were disappointing for me on more than a few fronts, but perhaps the most troubling were developments involving inaction right here in Allegan County.
I particularly cite Dorr Township, where the battles were bitter over the last four years, and acrimony has run high. Those who care not for good government, but love the entertainment of a good public scrap probably have enjoyed these Dorr spectacles. As Detroit Pistons scout Will Robinson once said to me, “It’s not very good, but it sure is interesting.”
No fewer than nine people ran for Township Board Trustee in 2012, including incumbents Larry Dolegowski, Dan Weber, Josh Otto and Paul Davis and challengers Patty Senneker, John Tuinstra, Gordon Lieffers and Robert Traxler, all Republicans, and U.S. Taxpayers Party candidate Christina Schwartz.
Senneker and Tuinstra unseated Dolegowski and Davis, largely riding a wave of anger over the sewer built and installed along 142nd Avenue, a policy decision that had launched a failed recall election in 2011.
Even after the dust settled from the 2012 election, there was further turmoil with the resignations later of Supervisor Tammy VanHaitsma and Treasurer Janice Saunders.
Yet in the 2016 Republican primary, there were just four candidates for the four trustee positions, all of whom were elected without opposition and then cruised to victories in the general election over two latecomer “No Party Affiliation” candidates and Schwartz.
Some would explain that thankfully the rancor had died down and the quieter atmosphere prompted less interest. The other side of that interpretation is that somehow qualified people were just tired of the whole mess and preferred instead to stay home.
I acknowledge that I wanted to see people such as Dolegowski, Traxler and Lieffers step back into the fray as Republicans and make the primary a lot more interesting. But they and others stayed home, enabling three incumbents and newcomer Teri Rios to take the election in a cakewalk
There were other examples, like the 72nd District State Rep. race, in which an unemployed 25-year-old with no experience was blessed with victory only because of his party and church affiliation. Once again, don’t complain to me about state government screwing up Flint water, roads, public education and with emergency managers. We elect these bozos again and again without a second thought
Just after the election I caught the latest documentary by one of my favorites, Adam Curtis, who hails from Great Britain.
Curtis in the opening of the film suggested that many politicians for the last 40 years have come to the unpleasant realization that they are powerless to solve real and important problems, so campaigning we’ve seen and heard over the last four decades is just spectacle, a circus, a carnival of grown men and women making promises they can’t keep.
Curtis asserted that too many politicians in the modern era as a result have resorted to side shows and emotional appeals in issues that don’t really improve or ruin our lives — things like flag burning, personal sexual improprieties, or as I have talked about so often — “God, guns, guts, gays and abortion.”
The point here is that perhaps some people who might make a difference in local government, to make things better closer to home, have become disillusioned or weary of the political process.
When I watched the 2016 presidential election, political junkie that I am, I was overwhelmed by empathy.
Or were you overwhelmed by apathy?