Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Welcome

“Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not YET sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit of not thinking a thing WRONG, gives it a superficial appearance of being RIGHT, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom.”

-Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776

Welcome to the Silk City Independent. This will primarily be a political commentary blog containing the perspective of an Independent voter in Manchester, Connecticut. I research and weigh both sides of any issue, because the world is not black or white, Republican or Democrat, but many colors and shades; and in the case of Manchester, largely unaffiliated with a political party. In this writer’s opinion, the political climate in town has become increasingly divisive and partisan. It is time to add a voice from the greater percentage of voters in Manchester.

Do you know what the make up of Manchester is when it comes to voter registration? According to the Connecticut Secretary of State on Oct. 30, 2007 :

Republican6,10318.9%
Democrat11,32035.0%
Minor Party2570.8%
Unaffiliated14,68545.3%
Total32,365100.0%


If the Board of Directors, BOD, or Board of Education, BOE, were apportioned by voter registration, there would be two Republicans, three Democrats, and four Unaffiliated or Independents on each of the governments bodies in town.

Connecticut has been called the land of steady habits. I can’t argue with Mr. Paine’s thinking, “…a long habit of not thinking a thing WRONG, gives it a superficial appearance of being RIGHT…” Political issues are almost always dependent on perspective. It is time to add a non-partisan, common sense perspectives to the dialog in Manchester.

Columns will be published on a minimum of a weekly basis. If you are a civic minded, unaffiliated voter in Manchester and would like to be a regular contributor, please leave a comment to let me know. Reader comments are welcomed; however, as with any publication, the editor reserves the right to moderate those comments.

1 comment:

John said...

You mention the Unaffiliated like they are a single more powerful block. And I understand what you want it to mean.

But the reality is that most of that group are simply ones that don't vote or even follow local or even national politics. Not to say you have to be part of a party or that they should not have a say. But to think that there should be more Unaffiliated people on the BOD because of this is really wrong thinking.

All this said, I like your blog so far.

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