Walton County is Republican Country

[JoshMclean]

It was an unequivocal nationwide rejection of the Republican base, which happens to predominate in northwest Florida. The people have spoken. You can remain true to your beliefs, just remember to wear your freak flag lapel pin if you journey out into mainstream America.

Showing his true colors once again.

 

[LuciferSam]

this thread is for you.
http://www.sowal.com/bb/showthread.php?t=29330

Thanks, but I read the Kumbaya thread last week.

 

[idlewind]

Believe it or not, I had to spend several l-o-n-g hours talking to Alan Osborne yesterday and he has a very good take on how things at the local level actually play into this whole economic crisis. It really gets you thinking when he connects the dots on local events and how they effect the whole picture. Especially if you realize these same scenarios are probably playing out in communities across this country. But had a Sheriff would ever do anything about it is beyond me.

Robert, I was joking about the sheriff doing something about federal taxes. What Mr. Osborne says about the situation would be a good read/listen IMHO if/when ya'll decide to share with us.;-)

 

[DemoLady]

Election had bright spots

[quote=rapunzel;496069]There are no red counties, and no blue counties. There is no north county and no south county. There is Walton County, and we are all part of this community and we all want to see it be the best county it can be.

The country repudiated Rovian divisiveness and hyper-partisanship last night...may we soon follow suit in Walton County.[/quote]

We are all aware that Walton County is predominately a Republican county -- elected and appointed officials. However, during this election, some bright spots of non-partisanism (is that a word?) showed up. Supervisor of Elections Bobby Beasley did a great job. He cooperated fully with the Demos poll watcher project, the Obama legal team, and handled the Early Voting opportunity extremely well. (It's obvious that South Walton County voters love early voting -- turning out more than 6,000 voters in that two-week period-- with some 3,000 in the north part of the county. Kudos to Glenda!)

Also, because our headquarters was on a busy highway -- we feared some vandalism or mischief. Nothing happened! Thank you, Walton citizens, for respecting our property.

A strong two-party system is the essence of a Democracy. Although Democrats are still a minority party in Walton County -- we're once again a viable presence and will work to solve the problems we all face -- regardless of color (red or blue).

 

[Andy A]

i won't be happy until we have more democratic candidates running in our local elections. we've now made our presence known so don't think you will hold all of this county forever. a little diversity of thought never hurt.

Speaking of diversity of thought, everyone please think of the best and easiest way to take partisanship out of ALL races below the state level. There is absolutely no reason for partisanship in local races. We need badly to change our way of selecting local officials.

 

[idlewind]

Speaking of diversity of thought, everyone please think of the best and easiest way to take partisanship out of ALL races below the state level. There is absolutely no reason for partisanship in local races. We need badly to change our way of selecting local officials.

While your idea sounds great at first read, I must respectfully disagree. The party you belong to and who you associate with is a valuable look into what you believe. Party affiliation is one way to separate the candidates on the issues and helps keep races from being popularity contests. It should not be the only criteria but it is a tool to help figure out who to vote for if you do not personally know the candidates. IMHO.

 

[Andy A]

While your idea sounds great at first read, I must respectfully disagree. The party you belong to and who you associate with is a valuable look into what you believe. Party affiliation is one way to separate the candidates on the issues and helps keep races from being popularity contests. It should not be the only criteria but it is a tool to help figure out who to vote for if you do not personally know the candidates. IMHO.

I understand what you are saying but at the local level there is absolutely no reason for party affiliation to be a criteria. I lived for 40 years in Oklahoma where party affiliation was not noted in local elections. It worked wonderfully well partly because people voted for candidates based on what they said they would do at the local level in the position they were seeking such as school board. Additionally, there was no "I'm a Republican and he/she is a member of my party so I am obliged to vote for him/her". The races were run on the issues that affected local citizens and no party politics were involved. While I understand your point, in local elections it is moot IMO.

 

[idlewind]

I understand what you are saying but at the local level there is absolutely no reason for party affiliation to be a criteria. I lived for 40 years in Oklahoma where party affiliation was not noted in local elections. It worked wonderfully well partly because people voted for candidates based on what they said they would do at the local level in the position they were seeking such as school board. Additionally, there was no "I'm a Republican and he/she is a member of my party so I am obliged to vote for him/her". The races were run on the issues that affected local citizens and no party politics were involved. While I understand your point, in local elections it is moot IMO.

The problem in many cases is that people do not agree with what their party traditionally stands for. Hence, there is no truth in advertising so to speak.

 

[DemoLady]

Essence of the problem

While your idea sounds great at first read, I must respectfully disagree. The party you belong to and who you associate with is a valuable look into what you believe. Party affiliation is one way to separate the candidates on the issues and helps keep races from being popularity contests. It should not be the only criteria but it is a tool to help figure out who to vote for if you do not personally know the candidates. IMHO.

I respect your response. In my opinion, it's the reason Walton County voters keep electing Republicans to local offices by a 60-72% majority. Many voters just vote the party line. It's also the reason "good Democratic candidates" shy away from running for office. The odds of being elected are not good because of the reasons you just stated.

More and more, people with second homes move here and select this location as their voting place. Yet, many know nothing about local politics, don't really feel affected by local issues, and just vote the party line.

With such a large and diverse county, one wonders if we are really well served if all our officials are of the same mindset and just represent one group of "like-minded" voters.

 

[Andy A]

I respect your response. In my opinion, it's the reason Walton County voters keep electing Republicans to local offices by a 60-72% majority. Many voters just vote the party line. It's also the reason "good Democratic candidates" shy away from running for office. The odds of being elected are not good because of the reasons you just stated.

More and more, people with second homes move here and select this location as their voting place. Yet, many know nothing about local politics, don't really feel affected by local issues, and just vote the party line.

With such a large and diverse county, one wonders if we are really well served if all our officials are of the same mindset and just represent one group of "like-minded" voters.

DemoLady, you help make my point.