Submitted by Nicole Pate
Election time is always a rancorous time of year. This time though, it seems to have spiraled out of control. Maybe it’s because it’s 2020. Maybe it’s due to the alignment of the planets. I don’t really know, but Democrats seem to have veered off the tracks and into the wilderness.
Democrats are talking about things that are not even on the ballot. One contention of theirs is that Republicans want to build nuclear power facilities in and around Greenwich. That simply is not true. It’s actually ridiculous. Another centers around a woman’s right to choose. This is absolutely not under threat, especially in Connecticut. A woman’s right is protected here. As stated in a Hartford Courant last year; “Connecticut is one of the few states that has codified the provisions of Roe v. Wade in state law. That means abortion would remain legal in Connecticut, even if it is banned on the federal level, unless the state legislature passed a new law barring the procedure.” (May 16, 2020 issue)
This is the nonsense that the local Democrat Party and it’s affiliate groups (Indivisible Greenwich and Greenwich Voices For Democracy) are peddling to voters. And it serves as a distraction from the huge problems our state and community face.
Their only goal seems to be to get the President out of office and to tar and feather Republican candidates for not denouncing what they don’t like about our President. Let’s be clear about something. The President is going to lose CT and Greenwich just like he did last time. He isn’t even going to set foot here to waste a dollar on campaigning. Neither will his opponent.
On the other hand, I hear local Republican candidates talking about the things that matter most to me and my friends. They are discussing cutting wasteful government spending, putting an end to the seemingly endless rise in our tax rates, focusing on our worst in class pension crisis and bringing jobs back to our state.
I heard Democrat Rep Steve Meskers say at the recent debate that he thought the state of Connecticut was “sitting in an enviable position”. Kathleen Stowe talked about how people are moving to our state because it’s wonderful. Let’s be honest. It has taken the equivalent of a global plague to force people to move here. Republican Rep Harry Arora said it right when he said “Things are not excellent here” and continued “we’re going into a massive deficit soon – let’s not get giddy”.
Our state needs to get its fiscal and financial house in order. It has been a drag on growth and job creation for a decade. People have left our state in droves, including many businesses and higher net worth residents who have taken their tax revenue with them.
Connecticut is a great state, but I say that because I am biased. I have lived here and made my home here. And I have a long enough memory to remember when it was a magnet for businesses. I remember when everyone who worked in Manhattan wanted to live here in Greenwich or Fairfield County. Our state was well run, and our economy was growing.
It was like that once, but we won’t see those days again unless we elect public servants who understand what it takes to get there. I believe the Republicans do.
The Democrats are, like our state’s economy, living on borrowed time.