If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve seen it coming.
There is a Shawnee city election in nine days, so it’s time for the politics of destruction to crawl out of the shadows, start picking at scabs and try to find something that will get voters upset.
The idea, of course, is that if people get upset about something, they’ll forget the long-term goals they have in common and they’ll splinter into different groups that feud with each other. Destroy the cohesion of a community and it’s easy to play politics and chalk up another election in the win column, if that’s what you’re after.
If you approach local politics as a game, you don’t worry much about the consequences of how you do it. There certainly is no consideration for the loss of opportunity or the effect that a scorched earth campaign has on the community psyche.
Over the last two years, the Shawnee City Commission and Mayor Linda Peterson have turned what was once a contentious body into one that is able to work its way through disagreements while keeping a focus on long-term goals.
One evidence of that is the ground-breaking Monday for the new 30-inch water line from the Twin Lakes to Shawnee’s water treatment plant. The line will give Shawnee a much-needed, reliable source of water for the future.
The commissioners recognized the importance of the new water line and the risk of not proceeding with it. Individual commissioners disagreed among themselves about other issues, but they kept their eyes on the water line as a long-term goal and rightly decided to pursue it despite some intense criticism.
They did what was best for the quality of life in Shawnee. When you get down to it, those three words – quality of life – should be the litmus test for every civic discussion. Will it make Shawnee a better place to live?
All of us aren’t going to agree on everything. And we shouldn’t, because none of us has all the answers. The Chamber of Commerce doesn’t have a patent on knowing what’s best for Shawnee’s future in every situation. The City Commission and the Shawnee Economic Development Foundation don’t, either. Even the News-Star’s editorial page can be off target every once in a while.
When we get everyone engaged in deciding the major goals for Shawnee’s future, we get a collective wisdom and strength that far exceeds that of any one group or any one person.
And that brings us to today. This isn’t about a single election or a single seat on the City Commission. It’s about how we approach our future.
Are we going to let political hobbyists define our issues by poking sore spots until someone winces, or are we going to focus on the major quality of life issues that will make Shawnee a better place to live?
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If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve seen it coming.
There is a Shawnee city election in nine days, so it’s time for the politics of destruction to crawl out of the shadows, start picking at scabs and try to find something that will get voters upset.
The idea, of course, is that if people get upset about something, they’ll forget the long-term goals they have in common and they’ll splinter into different groups that feud with each other. Destroy the cohesion of a community and it’s easy to play politics and chalk up another election in the win column, if that’s what you’re after.
If you approach local politics as a game, you don’t worry much about the consequences of how you do it. There certainly is no consideration for the loss of opportunity or the effect that a scorched earth campaign has on the community psyche.
Over the last two years, the Shawnee City Commission and Mayor Linda Peterson have turned what was once a contentious body into one that is able to work its way through disagreements while keeping a focus on long-term goals.
One evidence of that is the ground-breaking Monday for the new 30-inch water line from the Twin Lakes to Shawnee’s water treatment plant. The line will give Shawnee a much-needed, reliable source of water for the future.
The commissioners recognized the importance of the new water line and the risk of not proceeding with it. Individual commissioners disagreed among themselves about other issues, but they kept their eyes on the water line as a long-term goal and rightly decided to pursue it despite some intense criticism.
They did what was best for the quality of life in Shawnee. When you get down to it, those three words – quality of life – should be the litmus test for every civic discussion. Will it make Shawnee a better place to live?
All of us aren’t going to agree on everything. And we shouldn’t, because none of us has all the answers. The Chamber of Commerce doesn’t have a patent on knowing what’s best for Shawnee’s future in every situation. The City Commission and the Shawnee Economic Development Foundation don’t, either. Even the News-Star’s editorial page can be off target every once in a while.
When we get everyone engaged in deciding the major goals for Shawnee’s future, we get a collective wisdom and strength that far exceeds that of any one group or any one person.
And that brings us to today. This isn’t about a single election or a single seat on the City Commission. It’s about how we approach our future.
Are we going to let political hobbyists define our issues by poking sore spots until someone winces, or are we going to focus on the major quality of life issues that will make Shawnee a better place to live?
