"Glog" - Demagoguery and Cynicism

I asked for essays from Porter S’porters and I got one. Here’s a “guest blog” (would that be a “glog?”). My own comments follow.

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Demagoguery and Cynicism

I am someone who is accustomed to speaking out on the promises and actions of political leaders. In most of these cases, my concern is about the substance of the policies they advocate.
 
Grimes is a different case, though. For one thing, I have found it very difficult to make coherent sense of what he stands for, as he (for example) publicizes Jack Carson's extremist views and then disavows them or declares himself a champion of the poor, while hinting to landlords and wealthy homeowners that he's really their man. (Jack Carson is Grimes' campaign treasurer.)
 
And that is the major issue I have with Grimes' candidacy. In his contradictory pronouncements and actions, I see cynicism and disingenuousness of a kind that we have grown sadly accustomed to on the national stage, but have thus far been spared on a local level.  (I am not alone in this view: a Democratic Party official based here in Takoma Park recently told me that the Grimes campaign is the most cynical she can recall in her three decades of residing here.)
 
Take taxes. As I have previously noted, Grimes has been emphasizing Takoma Park's tax rates all year. Yet, his promises of massive spending increases and no borrowing make it clear that he won't (or won't be able to) do anything about them. This leaves me scratching my head: why talk incessantly about taxes if you have no plan whatsoever to cut them?!
 
Now, I would be among the first to object - on substance - if Grimes were to enact tax cuts for anyone but the most needy among us. What I find infuriating - and so out of place in Takoma Park - is that the only apparent reason why Grimes keeps sounding the horn on taxes is so that he can whip up emotions and distract the public (which he must assume is awfully gullible) from any substantive debate on real issues. The goal does not seem to be any particular policy or vision of government, but rather power for its own sake.
 
Take crime. Grimes made himself chief publicist of Carson's recent fear-mongering based on CNN figures that don't even apply to our city. (Note: according to no less than the FBI, crime is at a ten-year low in Takoma Park!) Jack Carson's solution to the nonexistent "crime wave" is to dissolve the police department (much as he wants to dissolve the whole city). Until Grimes had the speciousness of Carson's argument rubbed in his face, he was only too delighted to help defame our city and scare its residents. Why? The only answer I can come up with is that he decided that these tactics would get him elected. There is no other rational explanation.
 
As I observe Seth Grimes' slippery mayoral campaign, I long for a straightforward right-winger who could be debated - and defeated - on the merits of his or her case. And I hope with all my heart that Takoma Parkers will not be taken in by what amounts to no more than smoke, mirrors, and cynicism.


--Anonymous Porter Supporter

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I can’t say I agree with all this. In fact it seems to me to be fairly demagogic, itself - second-guessing Seth’s motives, implying conspiracies, and calling it a “slippery mayoral campaign.”

The Porter S’porters are telling me Grimes has a hidden agenda. The Grimes Group is telling me I’m falling for Kathy’s “spin”.

I don’t think so. Maybe I should change my name to “Pollyanna,” but I think both Kathy and Seth are sincere in what they say.


--Polly . . . I mean Gilbert