Kudos to Kierkegaard

Søren Kierkegaard wrote "If you label me you negate me."

Think about it. By assigning a definition or a label to something or someone, you are automatically excluding a realm of other possibilities.

I was out this morning pressing babies and kissing the flesh (or however that goes) and approached a gentleman working in his garden in order to introduce myself and hand him a flyer. His first question to me was how I am registered to vote. I immediately recognized the trap he set up and tried to explain to him that the city council is a non-partisan body.

"I understand that, but how are you registered to vote?"

"Well sir, when I vote in the major elections I vote for a broad spectrum of candidates: Democrat, Republican and Independent."

"Sure, sure, sure, but how do you register?"

"Sir, when you register you don't declare any party affiliation unless you plan to vote in the primaries. But when I vote in the primaries, I tend to pull a Republican ballot."

"That's all I needed to know. Goodbye."

I can't even begin to tell you how disturbing I found this conversation. Not because I know that I won't get this man's vote (which is fine. This is why we have elections, in order to offer choices to the voters. It's only natural that some people will want to support me and some will want to support Ms. Dodds.).

What bothered me is that this man is intentionally limiting his choices based on how he views the parties. He is letting other people dictate his reality and determine his direction.

The city council is non-partisan for a reason. Determining the best direction for our community is a job that should never be a function of any party's ideology. It's a job that requires cooperation, vision, openness, common sense and fiscal responsibility. That's the way I see it and that's why I'm running.