‘Twas The Night Before Elections
Dear Editor,
Just a bit of fun to make people stop and think before they vote. Cronyism has no place in politics please remember that.
‘Twas the night before the elections when all thru the town
Not a creature was stirring because none could be found.
The ballots were printed and stacked with great care
In hopes that the voters soon would be there.
The people were sleeping, all snug in their beds
While visions of change danced in their heads.
The mayor, the council, yes, the pro temp too
Were all settling in for another term, heck maybe two!
When out in the town there arose such a clatter
People sprang from their homes to see what was the matter.
And what to their wondering eyes did they see
But a brand new unwanted water subsidy!
The council and members of the committees they’d made
All met together to praise the projects they laid.
“Now round-about! Now Starbucks! Now new homes galore!
Let’s do what we want, because, well, we do know more!”
“Come agents, developers, and builders, yes you too!
Let’s make more than we can handle, what can the people do?”
Yes, our resources are pushed beyond their natural limit
But who cares and who knows whose pockets are in it?!
Our schools they are bursting right out at the seams
But that’s not our problem, tell people it’s in their dreams.
They continued their agenda saying “it’s in the Town’s Plan”
And they smiled and laughed and shook each others hand.
They spoke not a word but went straight to their “work”
Informing small businesses how they too could earn a town perk.
“We have government money, it’s all ours to spend”
Never mind how we got it or what it costs in the end.
Let’s give ourselves raises because we’ve so much to do
Forget this pandemic or how it influenced you.
Then they sprang to their cars, to their cronies did wave
And away they went thinking we must spend not save!
I heard them exclaim as they all drove away
“Vote people vote, but only if for MY way!”
So remember on Tuesday as you go to that booth
Vote conscience and reason, not what you’re told is their truth!
Doing things in the name of progress isn’t always progress.
Angela Turner
Thumbs up Mark!
If it’s on the Council now, vote it out!
Cute and very spot on
I loved the letter to the editor. It was delightful!
Change in the political environment starts at the local level. Don’t limit your voting privilege to the general election.
It sounds like you live in Summerfield or Oak Ridge! The controlling cliques are firmly entrenched, but may have a democratic rebellion on their hands in 10 days. Fingers crossed!
This is almost every small town in this area. The people in “charge” have probably lived in this same area all their life and don’t realize how special small rural areas are. When you live in a larger city, then you move to places like Oak Ridge, Stokesdale, Summerfield, and Jamestown in hopes of a quieter life and let’s busy pace. All politicians need term limits from the mayor/ council and up to our Congress. If you want two terms there should be a break in between your serving time. Government was not created to become a career. Our founding fathers had other careers and did these jobs in hopes of creating a great country! We need this mentality back in politics again helping “We the People” not fleecing us. Just my two cents.
Mr. de plum,
Yer comment is worth more than 2c. We have term limits (elections), but incumbency is perhaps 90% effective.
Sooooo, 2 terms for Congress, 1 term for Senate. Senators should be chosen by the States, not the electorate – it used to be that way.
If you don’t VOTE you can’t complain.
In today’s atmosphere it’s nothing BUT complaining. I vote every election no matter how small or hopeless I feel my vote is. Point is these officials love cronyism because they like to have others pucker up to their behinds. It gets tiring hearing the same old rhetoric before the elections then they do a complete 180 degree turnabout when in office. Would love for officials to do what say not what benefits them more.They put their friends on committees and then they have complete control. It’s a joke and that’s why people don’t feel like voting anymore. Any way just food for thought.
That’s certainly how it is in Oak Ridge. There is a dreadful little clique of poseurs who control our town. The Lady Mayor is an awful snob – Ann something – who is the personification of a Jobless Busybody. Our tax burden is 3 times that of neighboring Summerfield (that’s not a typo), but Her Ladyship and her fellow RINOs on the council see no reason to provide tax relief for us peasants. And they claim, at every election, to be conservatives.
Yeah, right. With conservatives like her, who needs liberals?
Absolutely! According to govsalaries.com the town of Oak Ridge salaries are 14 percent higher than the US average, yet they managed a raise during the pandemic. I agree with Gary that if it’s in council vote it out. Same goes with their committees. And why don’t the people vote on the mayor? Why is it just the council picks that position??? That would be like Congress picking our President out from themselves! It’s mind boggling truly.
Everyone should take all legal opportunities they get to vote. If you are not happy with what your city council, school board, or national offices are doing, you have the power to kick every one of them out of office. Don’t complain if you don’t take all elections seriously. The current GCS school board and county commissioners are good examples of who we need to fire as quickly as possible!!!