Republican View: Coming together this election year

Early voting started last week, and we hope everyone will go and cast their votes. You can vote early at the Tompkins County Fire and Rescue, 72 Brown Rd., Lansing, by the airport, and at the Ithaca Town Hall, 215 N. Tioga St. The hours are Oct. 28, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Oct. 29, noon to 8 p.m., Oct. 30, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Election Day is Nov. 3 at your polling location 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. You can get more information at https://tompkinscountyny.gov/boe.

I love elections. I loved reporting on them as a journalist and stayed active after leaving journalism. I’d like to say this year’s election has brought heated discussions, with two sides offering differing opinions. Each side would learn from the other side and compromise where they could, taking the best ideas to make for a better country. We are not at that place.

For many, it would seem we are not even at the place where we recognize the other side has something valuable to offer. I’d be less worried if it wasn’t for the “othering” I see, not just from the 5% who are perpetually unhappy, but by folks I consider reasonable and well-educated.

I know many hope this election will unite the country. I’m unfortunately pessimistic. It seems that one side of the aisle has decided the other side is not just wrong on policy, but that they are evil, and not just evil but the most evil group of the last century, the Nazis.

Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Joseph Stalin were on the podium too, but apparently being a communist still buys you a pass on the murder of your political adversaries. It’s worrisome to read intelligent people post their beliefs that half the country is embracing white supremacy. It’s even more troubling that “street soldiers” take that cue and use it to justify any action to “fight racism,” writing “pigs” on the police station, burning a flag, blocking a police car from a shots-fired call.

I hope after talks with my Democratic party friends that this is an isolated group, but then I read other Democratic friends’ posts, where they claim white supremacy has become mainstream.

I would have once thought this was an extremist wing of the Democratic Party. Republicans certainly have extremists we need to fight, and we sometimes fall short.

We’ve had a continued stream of protests in Tompkins County. Everyone has the right to protest; it’s guaranteed by the First Amendment right to assemble. I’m not sure how effective these protests are though.

Where I used to talk to African Americans about problems that may be unique to the Black community, I’m now faced with a 20-year-old white knight protester calling me a racist and a group of folks saying I’m not welcome in a city I lived in, brought my daughter home from the hospital to and still own property in, and a county I’ve called home for 20 years.

I find myself being lectured by a group who I’ve never seen at the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary fundraiser, any civic board or the GIAC Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration. I only read about them in the paper or on Facebook about their latest protest against x, y or z, but when the meeting comes to address x, y or z, they are nowhere to be found.

My role as legislator is to solve problems. When I get a call, I don’t ask if you are a Democrat or Republican or even if you’re in my district. I had a tenant who couldn’t collect unemployment insurance during the pandemic. I connected them to Tom O’Mara’s office. He helped get them the payment they worked for and deserved. There wasn’t a litmus test for that public service.

Democracy demands people have a say, and you get that say every time you vote. The right to protest goes beyond walking the streets; it’s enshrined in your right to vote. Your vote is your protest. If you don’t think a politician is looking out for you, vote for someone else. If your taxes are too high, vote against the school budget. But the vote and protest don’t end the work.

Don’t just vote against the budget; go to the school board meeting. How would you fix it? Get on an advisory board, run for school board or town board. If serving in this way isn’t for you, find a candidate to support, fund or campaign for.

While we are more connected through the internet than before COVID, we are less so as a people. The quick discussions at the market and the touching base at church coffee hours are missing, and many meetings are still virtual. You may not be hearing about large changes to your community. The best way to change society is to protest, by being at the table. The protest doesn’t end on the street.