Strong take here. Moco resident almost all of my life. Center right politically. Used to have 3 kids in public schools. Now I have none. I have a brother who is a teacher in the moco system. Once he told me to get my kids out, I did. Rotting from within, is how he described it. Too much focus on the wrong things. Sad as the public schools were once probably the single biggest asset the county (and it's residents) had to drive growth. Not anymore. |
Well to split the difference here (NP), I do believe there is serious dissatisfaction with schools and local politics among Dems. And as a liberal SS resident, I am ready to vote Elrich out and much of the school board. That said, my gripes do not translate into national politics at all; no way I would vote R for any federal office (and probably not Governor). So even if PPs are right that there is great dissatisfaction at the local level, I do not see that going beyond, well, the local level. So no Red Wave. Perhaps a couple county- or state-level "red trickles"... |
Thats fair. You won't ever see a Trump or DeSantis or Cruz type of politician succeed in MD. But its ripe for another Hogan. Kelly Schulz stands a good change, IMO. Heck, I would vote for somebody who is a logistics/operations specialist who says "I have no platform for change. I just want to get the county operational: fully staffed schools. operational public transportation. Roads plowed and paved. Etc, etc The basic blocking and tackling of local governance." |
I think you meant to say among DCUM "Dems". |
I see posts like this a lot on DCUM or on Twitter. Suggesting that its not REAL democrats upset. That the REAL ones are actually very happy. And this is very very bad for the party. Putting your head in the sand and isolating the moderates, the parents, and the fringe voters is a sure fire way to lose upcoming elections. |
Well certainly the only "Dems" that are foaming at the mouth are on DCUM. But I basically only know Democrats (and a couple sorta Greens/ "Dems are corporate sell-out" types). I'd say, very unscientifically, 20-30% are fine with school/local policies and were even perhaps more cautious that MoCo schools about venturing out; 40-50% were dissatisfied with both the closures (certainly by Mar 2021) and the quality of Zoom education, and think the BOE is a sort of a joke, but do not give two eff's about CRT or anything like that; and 20% are actually pissed off, moved to private, want Elrich out, etc. |
Nailed it. Dems are falling for the CRT boogeyman just as much as the GOP is, because it blinds them to the real issue, and allows them to dismiss any type of concern from parents as 'dog-whistle racism' But its really about getting the buses to run on time. About getting some who speaks Spanish teaching the Spanish courses, or someone with a degree in physics to teach AP physics. That is what is going to ultimately drive people to hold their nose and vote R |
^How would voting R accomplish any of these things? |
How many "Dems" you know? Most likely they live in Bethesda or Potomac. |
And R is going to fix things exactly how? |
I wish CRT was a boogeyman but it's in at least a few schools here in MoCo and certainly the central office. |
I said Silver Spring (big fan of Raskin BTW). Plus, IME dissatisfaction with the schools and other COVID policies had at least as much to do w the personal caution levels of people here as any center-left v left divide. |
Well, they might not. But its a binary choice, right? D or R. And the D's have shown that they are unable to fix it, so that only leaves one other option. And if we're asking which party (locally) MIGHT actually focus on the basics of local governance, I have slightly more faith in the Rs. Not a ton. But the Ds in power have shown its beyond their ability. |
Definitely the Democrats. Repubs only care about the 1% and big businesses. |
Yeah, but nobody here cares about that; if anything they probably support CTR at least in a general sense. There may be some concern about a particular application if it seems clumsy or counterproductive, but that probably would at most move the needle from "mild support" to "silly, but whatever..." |