Of course, my eternal wish is that each and every candidate running for office would admit from the starting gate that, even if elected, they are not the answer to everyone’s prayers, and that they will have to work with others, and may even have to learn to compromise, on occasion, to get achieve they want.

And voters who realize that, too, I suppose.

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Well, now that I have off my chest, I have other, more pertinent wishes for the 2014 election, wishes that I especially hope that those who might seek office would consider.

The 2012 election was, for many in Fayetteville, sort of a bust. The mayoral race was widely considered to be a grudge match between the incumbent and a former holder of the seat – no matter what each of them might say to the contrary, and the issues seemed to revolve around the center of town, as if somehow the rest of Fayetteville had been swallowed up in a giant vacuum cleaner.

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It was, in essence, one of the more boring races we have seen in many a year.

Please, for the love of God, can we see more than two candidates this year?

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We will also have city council seats up for grab, which is always something to look forward to.

I hope that this year, we might talk about something more than downtown parking.

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Parks and trails are pretty, but jobs are also nice, whether they be “green jobs” or not. While the vampire known as “Regionalism” has taken over Northwest Arkansas, Fayetteville is losing a lot of economic blood while new industries settle in cities to our north.

The Industrial Park is actually meant to attract industry, not to build parks in.

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If we don’t watch it, we may find ourselves in the situation former Fayetteville Board member Shell Spivey warned of in the early 1990s, that of us becoming a “bedroom community, a place for people to live in, while the jobs migrate elsewhere.

It might also be nice if someone running for office expressed some some small concern for those who find themselves moved out of their homes to make way for pretty new apartment complexes – and all too often these apartments look like they may well have come from the imagination of George Costanza, the would-be architect from Seinfeld.

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I mean, hell, as long as we are talking about “compassion,” well, lets have some compassion for the folks whose lives are getting screwed over while we turn a blind eye, simply because something pretty is being built where they once lived.

Well, as they say, that’s where the rubber meets the road . . .

I suppose we’ll see what happens, won’t we?

******

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If this means so much to you, Drake, why don’t you get off your butt and run?

I flirt with the idea of running for office again, but I have run three times in the past, and lost each election, getting what you might call a true “mandate from the people.” Still, I learned a lot from each election I took part in, and recommend the political process to everyone, be it running for office yourself or working on a campaign.

Just don’t be one of those supercilious snobs who sneer at folks because they try to make their community a better place to live in.

*****

Today’s Soundtrack

Today’s blog was written with the aid of Shania Twain’s “Come on Over.” CD.

Rock this country!

****

Quote of the Day

I’m not a glutton, I’m an explorer of food. – Erma Bombeck

rsdrake@cox.net

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