Primary Elections - An exercise in stupidity

The general election is not until November, yet our illustrious candidates keep pandering to those who have an ongoing political interest.

Is anyone as disgusted with the field as I?

On the Democratic side, Hillary, Obama, & Edwards are clearly the front runners.  On the Republican side, there's Romney, Guliani, Huckabee, &

If you add all their good qualities together, you would be hard pressed to compile a candidate capable of running the United States.

What has lead to such a lackluster choice?  Is this the best America has to offer?  Is this field comparable to Washington, Adams, or any of the founding fathers?  Sadly, it wouldn't appear so.

What in God's name has debased our leadership to such a deplorable level?  Is it the inane pandering that politicians must do to be elected?  Is it the money and special interests?  Is it the egotistical drive to be "the" person who has a TV camera shoved in their face?  Or is it just what has floated to the surface?

Politics, even in little Hagerstown, has seen the competence level soar to unimaginable lows.

One bureaucrat took exception to a recent article where I stated that Washington County has a track record of promoting incompetence.  Given the historical actions, this is about as true as it gets. An encounter with nearly every department will leave the citizen with the feeling that the taxpayer is subservient to the governmental bureaucracy. 

Walk down the halls of the County Administration Building or City Hall.  Look at the pictures and read the names.  It reads like a historical Who's Who of the area.  Compare that with todays leadership.   

Nothing personnel, but most of the administrators serving today do not possess the vision to lead Hagerstown and Washington County to a better place, and the taxpayers suffer because of it. 

Compare successful, vibrant communities with Hagerstown and Washington County.

Unless/until business leaders are again willing to lead our communities, the stagnation and wrong-headed directions will continue.  Then again, maybe we get the leadership we deserve.

The Patriot Sharpshooter

Comments

[oupa]

So one of our illustrious commissioners took exception to your comment on promoting incompetence huh? Well there are so many examples but let's just use the recently promoted Director of Public Works. You know the guy who recommended not only that the county build a road a multi-millionaire had made an obligation to build but talked 4 of 5 of them into building more of said road than necessary! One could argue who's the more inept, the guy suggesting it or the four falling for it.

As for the "progress" in Hagerstown... Former Gov. Glendenning recently visited and commented on downtown turning the corner. Well, after at least thirty years of downtown re-development plans by the city if you look at what's actually being done down there today virtually all of it is the result of entities outside the city or private enterprise. I might add that most of the efforts by private investors has met challenges by the city nearly every step of the way. Just today there is word that the most popular night spot downtown is being threatened with having his license pulled because of something that took place outside his establishment. 1000 patrons visited the place that night and four of them ended up in two separate fights - after leaving! What else brings 1000 people to downtown Hagerstown to spend money? How many arrests did HPD make that night elsewhere?

What the hell. The problem is that politics has become too dirty a business to attract highly qualified business people and BS is more likely than ability to impress such folks when it's time to promote employees.