“Be bold, be bold,
but not too bold – lest the marrow of your bones runs cold,” an English Fairytale
reminds the bold hero of the tale. That is excellent advice for politicians who
wish to succeed in attaining and holding office.
In primary elections,
we find, bold politicians may be as bold as they wish. General elections, however, are horses of a
different color.
In a general
election, the election deciders are far less narrow-minded than are the more
energetic electors in primaries because the election field is wider. The danger
always is that bold primary messaging may leech into general elections and undermine
the gent who has proposed the abolition of police departments and prisons. The
wiser, more Machiavellian option is to draw a veil of ambiguity around the
abolition of police departments in primary elections and then – after you have been elected to
office -- abolish the police department.
Kevin Rennie -- once
a moderate Republican legislator in Connecticut’s General Assembly, now a
moderate commentator writing for the Hartford Courant -- mentioned the
abolition of police departments in connection with Josh Elliot’s primary
gubernatorial campaign.
In his column -- “Only
one candidate for Connecticut governor wants to abolish the police: It’s state Rep. Josh Elliott” -- Rennie focuses on a 10 paragraph notice Elliot
wrote on Facebook in 2020.
“The Hamden Democrat
challenging Gov. Ned Lamont in the August 11 primary,” Rennie wrote, “was
all-in for abolishing the police … In Elliott’s Connecticut, the governor would
send a busload of stern but compassionate counselors to protect workers hiding
in their office where a gunman lurks. A holder of a Master of Social Work would
be assigned to find a driver who struck a pedestrian and fled the scene.
Welcome to the Nutmeg State Hunger Games, where the law abiding are the
defenseless prey of the violent lawless, a place where the mob rioting to
overturn a free and fair election are asked politely, ‘And how do you feel
about that?’”
Even American Democrat Socialist Mayor of New York
City Zohran Mamdani was not quite so bold: “Mamdani assured New Yorkers he had
evolved. He no longer believed what he trumpeted on X, ‘We don’t need an
investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer & a major threat
to public safety. What we need is to #DefundTheNYPD.’ As mayor, Mamdani has not
defunded the police, but he did eliminate the plan to fill 5,000 vacancies on
the force in his first budget.”
Rennie noted, “In his declaration to abolish the
police, Elliott shared his philosophy of governing, He explained, ‘It is my
consistent belief that my role as a white legislator, representing a majority
white district, that my priority cannot simply be getting re-elected or saving
myself from difficult conversations–and then sometimes voting right. It is my
priority to lead with the advocates and activists and push my constituency in
difficult ways–in the same way that I push myself.’” Rennie hoped that such
entertaining appeals to left wing demagoguery might be closely examined during
a one-time primary debate between Lamont and Elliott.
And, Rennie observed further, “The debate will
provide opportunities for Lamont to do some explaining of his own. He is the
first governor required to participate in training on how the state’s Freedom
of Information Act, once a model for the world, works. The Greenwich Democrat
could tell viewers what he learned and what improvements he has made in his
administration’s startling disdain for the public’s right to know how
government conducts the people’s business.”
It is perhaps a hopeful sign that not every
political commentator in Connecticut has fallen asleep at the keyboard. Commentators have yet to turn their occasionally
selective attention to U.S. Representative Jahana Hayes of Connecticut’s 4th
District, once considered a political playground shared between liberal
Democrats and fiscally conservative
but socially liberal Republicans.
Republican Chris
Shays, held the District from
1987-2009 before he was ousted by U.S. Rep. Jim Himes. Shays was the last
fiscally conservative socially liberal Republican in the state’s U.S.
Congressional Delegation.
Progressivism in New England, we now know, differs
substantially from the liberalism of former Governor Ella Grasso and former
U.S. President
John Kennedy. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders has little in
common with Kennedy and appears to be a
pale reflection of socialist Eugene
Debs, a brash American socialist whose run for president was derailed after he
was jailed in 1918 for delivering a speech in Canton, Ohio, that directly
challenged U.S. involvement in World War I.
Lisa Hagen tells us in a piece written for CTMirror
-- Jahana
Hayes splits with CT delegation on U.S. aid to Israel – “U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5th District, was the
only member of Connecticut’s congressional delegation to vote Wednesday for an
amendment that would have cut off more aid to Israel as public opinion shifts
on the issue and Democratic voters have grown critical of the country’s war in
Gaza. The four other Connecticut representatives, John Larson, D-1st District,
Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District and Jim Himes, D-4th
District, joined nearly half of the Democratic caucus and all but one
Republican in defeating the amendment to a government spending bill that would
have eliminated an additional $3.3 billion in assistance for Israel.”
Remembering her Machiavelli, Hayes temporized just a
bit, according to Hagen: “’I absolutely support Israel’s right to exist, but
I’m horrified with what’s happening to these kids in Gaza,’ Hayes said in an
interview outside of the House chamber after Wednesday’s vote series. And while
I hate the amendment, we need to open the door for some discussion on what aid
looks like… I wish we had put forth an amendment that was more precise and
talked about supporting humanitarian aid and then put the scrutiny on defense
aid that needed to be there but not take it completely away,’ she continued. ‘We
just have to have a different conversation, and it doesn’t mean that I think
aid should be off the table, because that’s not where I am.’”
Israel has been battered by Iranian supported
terrorists, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip in Israel, during
Hayes’ entire term in office, according to Hamas
documents captured by IDF forces during the Gaza Strip War.
And
Sanders? Hagan tells us: “U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.,
has forced multiple votes on his disapproval resolution to block U.S. arms
sales to Israel. The measure failed each time it was brought up for a vote, but
more Democratic senators got on board during the latest vote in April. Sanders’
disapproval resolution split Connecticut’s two U.S. senators: Chris Murphy supported the measure (
emphasis mine), while Richard Blumenthal opposed it. Only seven Senate
Democrats voted against the resolution in April.”
As always, Israel was in the past and will be in the
future the canary in the U.S. political and cultural mineshaft.
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