Why Voting Is Important November 2

 (OPINION: This commentary is the opinion of the author, Ed McKeon.  McKeon is one of the founders of the Middletown Eye.  He serves on the Middletown Common Council, and has served on the Board of Education.  This is his opinion alone and does not represent the opinion of the Common Council, and other members of the Common Council, or any member of City government.)

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/critical-race-theory-invades-school-boards-help-conservative-groups-n1270794

This election day is important.  Every election day is important.  Every vote is important.

It may not seem so important to many.  No presidents or senators on the ballot.  No mayoral candidates.  

Is this the future you want?

However, the ballot features candidates for the Board of Education, the Planning and Zoning Commission and two Charter Revision questions.

You thought maybe you could skip this election?  Think again.

I challenge you, considering everything that's going on in town today, to argue that who serves on the Board of Education, and who serves on Planning and Zoning, is not important.

In addition, there's a widely-covered movement in which radical Republicans, following the advice of fascist sages like Steve Bannon, are attempting to take over local boards and commissions one town at a time.  Their goal: to have us retreat into history to a time when racism, homophobia and misogyny were acceptable.

Maybe you've been seduced by local Republicans who professes a sudden enthusiasm for schools, teachers and the environment.  I will tell you (in fact most of them will tell you themselves, if you look closely), that these are the same folks who have campaigned for years against school funding and environmental regulation. They're operating from the Trump playbook, and it's a con.  They agree with you on hot-button issues like recess or fighting in schools, but they don't really care about your schools, your teachers, your children, or your rivers and clean air.

Over the next few days, leading up to the election, I plan to give you my perspective on the upcoming election - who to vote for, who not to vote for, why charter revision is important.

You may have guessed by now that I'm a progressive Democrat, but I have worked well with conservative Dems, and with reasonable moderate and conservative Republicans.  Unfortunately, it's the "reasonable" label that seems to have been abandoned in these divisive times.

Election day is November 2.  See you at the polls.