Progressive Springfield

Radfest (June 3-5 in Williams Bay, Wisconsin) looks like it could be a pretty cool and interesting get-together for progressive activists in the MidWest. Wish I could go!

There's a nice article on-line at In These Times about fighting the conservative media. Excellent discussion section as well.

In my mind (and this may seem very obvious), the biggest problem trying to fight the conservatives is that they have most of the money and most of the power . How do you fight that?

On the other hand, acquiscence isn't a very palatable option either.

Lost causes are still worth fighting for.

I can't say I have a very good feel for how to vote on the merger of Springfield City and Sangamon County Health Departments. One one level, it seems to make sense, if there is duplication of services. No one is supposed to lose their job with the merger, with savings to occur over time through attrition. That seems to make sense also.

What bothers me a little bit is just how vocal the supporters have been. The County health department is controlled by Republicans, while the City dept. is marginally controlled by Democrats. Politics rears its ugly head once again. The Sangamon County Medical Society endorses it, and they've left messages on everyone's voice mails (or at least mine) saying how "Springfield's Doctors Support it...so should you!" Well, I happen to know of at least one Springfield doctor who has his doubts about this merger, so this blanket statement ticked me off a little too. Besides which, most doctors in Springfield are Republican, so is this just another political statement?

We have this great democratic system called "voting" which gives people like us the power to help make important decisions. Yet when it comes down to voting time, it often seems like we don't have enough information to make an informed decision. We end up having to decide between one party's rhetoric and the other's.

I'm tempted to just sit this vote out. Perhaps that's not very civically responsible. But is it responsible to vote when the issues remain unclear?

Maybe the merger IS a good idea, and my reluctance to vote on it is merely a reflection of my difficulty supporting a measure so strongly supported by Republicans. Republicans can't be wrong ALL the time. Many of them aren't really bad people. Some of my best friends are Republicans!

Any other thoughts out there?