POLITICAL PARTIES: SOME THOUGHTS

POLITICAL PARTIES: SOME THOUGHTS

Thomas Jefferson was one of the Founding Fathers of our nation, and Third President.

Jefferson was an aristocratic, slave owning  Southern Planter who envisioned an agrarian society of small farmers as the basis for a representative democracy.

Ironically, Jefferson was leader of the Democratic-Republican Party and his appeal was to small farmers, working men, and small shop keepers.

His greatest legacy , as President, is  the Lousiana Purchase of 1803 , when hundreds of thousands of square miles West of the Mississippi River were added to the new nation including the prairies which are now America's grain breadbasket. Again, as an irony, Jefferson and Congress both acted unconstitutionally in purchasing Louisiana. But, the public, hungry for land, supported it.

Jefferson advocated a landed society of educated voters and was a  staunch supporter of free speech and newspapers as ways of educating the electorate.

As the years passed the Democratic-Republican Party split to become the two major parties of U.S. politics. Democrats became the party of  blue collar workers , ethnics and Southerners. Republicans became the party of the wealthy and business interests. Each party had a recognizable philosophy.

In Albany, in the early 1900's the Republican Machine of Billy Barnes firmly controlled local politics. It was a party run by Yankee aristocrats.

Dan O'Connell's father and grandfather were Republicans. They were farmers and saloon keepers. To be a saloon keeper, then, as now, required playing ball with the party in power.

Dan O'Connell and his brothers became Democrats because there was little opportunity for them to rise in politics in an aristocratic Republican Party. Dan built a viable political base from among the Irish and German ethnics of Albany's South End. Dan was a great leader and looked out for the ordinary people. This is the basis of the undying loyalty of so many Albany Democrats today.

However, what these partyline voters are unable, or unwilling, to admit, is that the Democratic Party of Dan O'Connell is no more.

When we look at the Democratic and Republican Parties, today, the inescapable conclusion is that there is very little difference between them. Both are far removed from the ordinary people.

There are no Democrats or Republicans at the upper levels of our society. They mingle together, make their deals of mutual benefit , while the most partisan adherehents to party labels are those lowest on the food chain.

Today, what we have is a two party system; those in power and those who seek to be in power. They call themselves by different names, at different times and in different places. There are some minor parties but they are only adjuncts of the party in power, in a particular place and time.

On a national level we have a "Republican" President who has failed to secure our borders and sea ports leaving the country open for future devestating terrorist attacks. He is unwilling or unable to halt a wave of illegal immigration into the U.S. which threatens to swamp Lifeboat America in a sea Third World poverty.

On a local level, we have a "Democratic" Mayor who can not , or will not,  disarm the criminals and gangs and make our homes and streets safe. Nor, can that Mayor (or Common Council -also all "Democrats") provide the leadership necessary to fix the failing Albany School System.  They are kept in office by a shrinking block of partyline, lemming like voters who view themselves as "loyal Democrats".  Loyal to what? Can they truthfully look at the last 12 years of the current administration and say that they like what they see in Albany?

Look at the record. Each election the number of people voting, grows smaller and smaller. The representative democracy envisioned by Jefferson is in danger. So, are each and every one of us.

The newspapers which Jefferson viewed as essential to creation of an informed electorate necessary to sustain this representative democracy have failed in their respionsiblity to inform the voters. Today, we get opinions, and few facts, or, no coverage at all.

The media has become a willing participant in creating the best government and judiciary that money can buy.

Those who fail to make the effort to become informed and to cast informed votes have let it happen.

We are nearing the end time of the American experiment in representative democracy that began with men like Thomas Jefferson.

Neither Jefferson,nor the other Founding Fathers,  ever foresaw the nation and world that we live in today. They can't help us. We must help ourselves or perish.

Let us begin, here in Albany, November 8, to create a city where all can live in safety, where children can be educated in K-8 neighborhood schools, where we anticipate and prepare to cope with emergencies, natural and man-made disasters, and terrorist attacks that may  befall us in the days ahead, where we restore our neighborhoods, build more and better downtown housing, and where we develop a comprehensive citywide land use master planand zoning code that will enable Albany to become a liveable city in the 21st Century.

When you go to vote, November 8th, vote with your thumbs.  VOTE  SULLIVAN    FOR MAYOR   ROW A.