Election season is one of the most interesting periods on our calendar.
This is the time of year when most attempts at information or opinion sharing turn into an automatic “us versus them” mentality and sometimes confrontation.
The editorial in last week’s edition of the Town and Country opined on an issue facing Marlborough Township residents and taxpayers: Whether or not to bring their police department staff to the pre-2007 level of four full-time officers or not. The editorial didn’t lean one way or the other as to how the decision should go - just a brief history and definition of the issue and the fact that supervisors would be called upon to address it.
In a letter to the editor in today’s edition, it is written that the editorial writer was using “scare tactics to alarm the residents of Marlborough.” Alarm them of what? If a municipality has a need and no ready funds, expense reduction plans, or other means to fund the need, then a tax increase could be a reality – not a scare tactic.
Of the issue, last week we wrote: “That means supervisors will have to take a hard look at whether or not to raise taxes or institute fees for certain township services. For that decision, they need to turn to the people who will be affected most – the residents and taxpayers. Common courtesy in these dire economic times almost mandate it.” If that is considered a scare tactic it must be election season!
And yes, the residents of Marlborough Township should be alarmed. A brief look at Internet blogs and social networking sites show that the police issue in Marlborough Township has been shouted out to the world long before last week’s editorial. If someone reading the story in the Town and Country newspaper “scares” anyone, they should be petrified knowing the possibility that some unsavory characters in Norristown, Philadelphia, Allentown, Reading and beyond know that the township is ripe for plunder.
That’s a bit of an exaggeration and it is not our intent to “scare” anyone but rather to get a point across. Too often people with legitimate problems try to hide them, ignore them or bypass them instead of sharing the problem and seeking out sound solutions from others with similar interests or those “who have talked the talk and walked the walk.” Signing petitions and attending municipal meetings are great ways to voice your opinion. After all, if you don’t tell the officials what you’re thinking, how will they know?
Scare tactics is just another one of those phrases that politicos (and those who think they are) bring out once a year, dust off and use against anybody perceived as supporting a candidate or issue that doesn’t agree with you. It was used ad-infinitum in the last presidential election and ad-nauseam in the battle of the National Health Care Plan passed last year.
Don’t worry. As we mentioned on many occasions, the Town and Country newspaper does not endorse candidates. To the “Blues” on the left and “Reds” on the right, this might seem sacreligious for a newspaper. The “Purples” in the middle understand that sometimes you just can’t find a candidate that you want to “hitch your wagon to” and end up having to vote for the lesser of the nominated evils.
‘Tis the season. Don’t forget to vote on Nov. 8.