The proverbial dust from Super Tuesday has settled. Republicans and Democrats now know their adversaries for November. And all the excitement has got me wondering.
Does being a Democrat in this city really mean anything?
In my quest to answer this question, I looked back to last year's election. The city council was in for a reshuffling. Six of its seven seats were up for grabs.
In each race, the Democrats were faced with a Republican opponent. And in every single race the Democrat won the seat. But travel back just a month further and the campaign trail looked nothing like a bipartisan national race.
The candidates weren't talking about health care or trickle-down economics. Not one person mentioned abortion rights or a prescription-drug plan. Even messages of campaign finance reform were non-existent.
Instead, candidates were promising voters increased communication, better town-gown relationships and heightened student political involvement - hardly partisan fare.
The election had no traditional Democratic or Republican values, but few people seemed to notice.
Both the College Republicans and Democrats came out for the election endorsing and advertising for their candidates. But why?
Did the College Democrats really think Sarah Sexton's Democratic ideals influenced her vote for the nuisance party ordinance?
(With its methods of intimidation and subjectivity, I don't think this ordinance can be called democratic, by either definition of the word.)
Did supporting Ed Baum for council make the Republicans sleep better because their local tax money would be better conserved and tax breaks would be given to the appropriate sector of the Athens population?
(For the record, no one on council has ever conserved spending. Even in times of economic hardship the city still found hundreds of thousands of dollars to build a skate park, which is still not open, and improve Uptown, which looks the same except for some dying trees.)
The truth of the matter is that political parties on a local level come down to two things - money and loyalty.
Local candidates have to declare a party to garner the hundreds of dollars in funds that go with it. Without the support of the party, candidates would be forced to raise all of the money themselves, a heavy burden considering a close city council race can cost each candidate more than $3,000.
Also, Athens is a you-scratch-my-back-and-I'll-get-yours kind of a town. Meaning Democrats stick together, and the five Republicans in this town stick together. This is important when it comes time to vote.
Simply being a Democrat in this town can get you elected. Case in point, a Democrat fills EVERY seat on city council. Further case in point, Mayor Ric Abel ran unopposed last election.
(Apparently he is unbeatable because he's an incumbent Democrat - a term that means nothing except we're stuck with him until he retires or dies.)
The bottom line is that on a local level, political parties are a hindrance to democracy. Voting on party lines does not guarantee your opinions on how the city should be run will be represented.
All it does is ensure that you and your council representatives support the same presidential candidate. While that's really cute in a hand holding, lovey-dovey community kind of way, it does nothing to better the city.
McDowell is a senior journalism major who wishes Ed Baum was still on city council simply because he disagreed with the Democrats every once in a while. Send her an e-mail at lauren.mcdowell@ohiou.edu.
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Lauren McDowell
