A pre-election day vent

[SoxFan]

Indulge me, ok?

Most of you know that I spent the past two years as a member of the Manchester (NH) Board of Aldermen, the city council for the largest city in our fun-size state.

The board, like all city offices, is ostensibly non-partisan, but local party committees get involved in a big way. If you're on the outs with the public employee unions, the Dems are going to toss you under the bus. Likewise for Republicans who don't drink the cryptolibertarian "no taxes, ever" Kool-Aid.

Well, I got tossed under the bus in the primary last September, when I was knocked out by a state rep and former alderman whose only interest is running interference for AFSCME and the IAFF. This same guy sold out his constituents by siding with the power company to keep a filthy, mercury-spewing coal plant running. He cut a deal with right-wingers to get a Republican in the race in order to siphon fiscally conservative votes away from me.

But guess who gets tarred as a :bad Democrat".

I spent the last two years opposing Republican-authored budgets that gutted public transit, underfunded the library, eliminated funding for a critical inner-city community policing program, and cut patrolmen positions while we are experiencing a spike in gang and narcotics activity. I was the ONLY Democrat on the board who refused to knuckle under, but I'm the one who is a "bad Democrat".

This budget slashed school funding to the point where the towns that send kids to Manchester high schools are now ready to break off and form a new district. Can't bame them, given the abysmal state of our schools.

Teachers at the vocational high school had to hide textbook purchases in a construction order. At least they will have books. Middle schoolers don't have their own math or science texts.

But this is acceptable, so long as you agree to keep redundant public works jobs and oppose any suggested consolidation.

It's all about the old line palookas. If someone wants to have a serious discussion about policy reform, you get hit with rolling eyes and snickering. When I dared to support a very progressive independent candidate )who was one of Barack Obama's first NH backers) for one of the seats on the board, I got blasted as a bad person. Sorry, gang, but when the Democratic Party is content with mediocrities who refuse to advance a progressive reform agenda, I'm going to look elsewhere.

This is not my Democratic Party. I don't know what the hell it is.