As a relative newcomer to Berkeley Heights, it wasn’t until I had been here through one or two election cycles that I noticed the typical national-level party split between Democrats and Republicans is quite different from how politics play out in Berkeley Heights. Politics and party are very easily understood in NYC. Everyone is liberal and everyone is a Democrat. Okay, okay, there are exceptions, but not enough that it makes anyone stop and think, and few enough that when this former Democrat decided to register as a Republican the horror of friends extended over all five boroughs. Here, sparked by the recent proclamation that the League of Women Voters would not be allowed to host the BOE candidate debate because our schools don’t allow “political” activity, I couldn’t help but start thinking about the relationship between political party registration, local governance, and our schools.
Schools should be apolitical, and until recently they mostly were. We’ve seen, over the last few years – and with greater measure than ever this past year – that politically tinged social constructs are becoming of concern to parents as states begin to mandate those issues be introduced into the classroom, and schools are implementing those directives. Suddenly, who gets elected to school boards became far more likely to involve discussions about political party.
All this leads back to how our small-ish town blurs those lines, how it might be important, and why it deserves a discussion. After the list of BOE candidates was first published, I heard two parents talking. One said they favored a particular candidate, and the response from the second was ‘I think that one is a Democrat’, with the implication being their party affiliation took them out of the running in that parent’s view. While on the national stage it’s assumed that Republicans will “fight back” against social issues in the curriculum such as the new sex and health education requirements, we see from social media that it’s not only conservative parents who are asking for more details on what their children will be learning.
On the town council level, we have seen Republicans who have, perhaps, not been the most fiscally conservative, and we’ve seen Democrats push for more laws surrounding the use of marijuana, even as laws are softening or being overturned nationally.
The blurred lines are important for two reasons: one being that you can’t always determine how an individual will act or vote based on political affiliation, and two being that a fair number of people in our town seem to have already recognized this, sometimes leading to friendships being strained or having groups in town begin to ostracize acquaintances and form quiet factions that seek to consolidate some type of power.
It’s more important now than ever to look at any candidate on an individual basis. If you have questions about where one stands, ask. Don’t assume that what you’ve heard through the grapevine is the hard truth. Don’t assume you know how one will vote based on party affiliation.
Don’t be afraid to cross those lines to vote for someone whose track record (where they have one) shows competence and dedication. Don’t be shy about contradicting something you know to be untrue or sharing something you do know to be true. Let’s be committed to voting independent of parties, and let’s keep open discussions going. It’s a good thing.