Skip to main content

More Than Yourself




My Midterm election mood, direct from Twitter, is as follows:

You can't say you "love" someone and then vote in such a way that you place their lives and the lives of people like them in real danger. Y'all better start going to the polls with more than yourself on your mind. @word_made_fresh

And this response:

I told someone that voting for Trump while claiming to care about your minority neighbor is like voting for someone whose supporters think they should be able to burn your neighbor's house down to run the HOA. Your neighbor won't care how much you say you love them after that. @upsidedwnworld

This is every bit as much a local issue as a national one.

Lately I have noticed how many trolls have filled up the comments of campaign posts for County Executive Candidate Calvin Ball with sneers like,

 He loves those illegals more than he loves us.

Comments like these show fear and a mindset of scarcity.  This is a small-minded “othering” of those who look different, worship differently, or sound different when they speak. When Dr. Ball articulates his vision for a more inclusive Howard County, these people hear an entirely different message.  The diversity of his campaign video says to me, “we the people” but to them it says, “those people are going to take my stuff.”

 There are many fancy ways of justifying it but in the end it is as base and as coarse as that: Those people. Those people. Sure, I believe in “we the people”. But not those people. Those people are going to take my stuff.

 There are some folks whose idea of democracy is voting to protect a Howard County where they can exert influence over who gets in, how many, where they live, and where their kids go to school. Some of these people are very nice people. But this worldview presents a major stumbling block if we ever mean to address systemic injustices.

 Because:

 You can't say you "love" someone and then vote in such a way that you place their lives and the lives of people like them in real danger.

An amazing thing about love, and justice, and generosity, and respect: they don’t run out because they are shared. There is no finite “pot of good stuff” which will be diluted or drained when we decide to place value on the lives of the undocumented, or people of color, or Muslims, or the poor. In fact, our democracy can only be made stronger by welcoming diversity, by including our neighbors.

 All of them.

 In truth, the election in Howard County comes down to this:
  



You think building a bigger table is too expensive? The cost of a higher fence far outweighs it: a democracy that is not truly a democracy, a land of plenty destroyed by a fearful grasping for resources, a community where “those people” lead parallel but lesser lives. 

That’s truly a price we cannot afford.

Calvin Ball and Allan Kittleman have much of the same professional experience. Both, it can be argued, know how to do the job of County Executive, But, of the two, only one has shown he understands the responsibilities that “we the people” requires. Calvin Ball has proven he is willing to take the risks and make the decisions to make Howard County better for all of us.

And that’s why he has my vote.








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents.  When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...
1 comment
Read more

Getting Fresh

One of my favorite days in the Spring comes when this year’s list of Farmer’s Markets is released. That happened this week. New this year are markets in Old Ellicott City and the “Merriweather Market” which, according to the address, will be located here . I mistakenly thought at first glance that it was in the new-construction part of the Merriweather District. I find the name confusing considering its actual location. I’m going to guess that this market is an initiative of the Howard Hughes Corporation because the name seems chosen more for branding purposes than anything else.  Alas, the market in Maple Lawn is gone. The thread on the markets on the County Executive’s FB page will provide you with quite the education in who actually runs the Farmers Markets vs what people often think is going on. Short answer: they are not  chosen nor run by the county. Each market is an independent entity, sometimes started by community volunteers, other times supported by local businesses...
1 comment
Read more

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday.  Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was  "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018.  2018 .  But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest.  In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...
1 comment
Read more