RiverCityMalone.com

On the issues that matter in Malone NY (USA)

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— Calvin  Luther Martin, PhD

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Vote!  This Tuesday.  November 3rd.  Don’t even think of using the tired excuse, “But my vote doesn’t make a difference!”

I know this excuse; I used it for years.  It’s horseshit.  And you know it.  It’s defeatist and self-fulfilling.
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We are the beneficiaries of centuries of blood, sweat, and tears to win this privilege.  Wars were fought.  People imprisoned and beaten.  Heads rolled.  People driven from their homes.  All for the goal of suffrage:  the right to vote.  Don’t insult this precious achievement with, “My vote doesn’t count!”  Or, “I vote only in presidential elections.”

No one is more demoralized and disgusted by state and national politics than I am.  But don’t extend this disgust to our community.  We are not owned by Washington or Albany, and to the extent we’re tyrannized by them, our best bet is to elect local people who figure out creative ways to contradict and blunt oppressive control.

This is where I shake my head.  Typically in Malone fewer than 1000 people vote.  In a field of, say, two candidates, it’s common for one candidate to get 450 and the other 483 votes.  This is shameful.  These numbers should be in the thousands!

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If you need to acquaint yourself with the local candidates, I have written about most of them in these pages (see below).

There was a time when these articles would have been forbidden or censored by the state.  That I can write freely, openly, about candidates for public office is confirmation that “voting” and “democracy” work.  They will continue to work only if you and I continue to exercise these powers.  Once we let apathy or discouragement defeat them, there is hell to pay to restore them.

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Michael Maneely, Mayor, Village of Malone (click here)

Hugh Hill, Trustee, Village of Malone (click here)

Phil Hans, Trustee, Village of Malone (click here)

 

Ed Lockwood, Councilman, Town of Malone (click here)

Wayne Miller, Councilman, Town of Malone (click here)

 

Charles Robert, Judge, Malone Municipal Court (click here)

 

Craig Carreiro, District Attorney (click here)

Peter Dumas, District Attorney (click here)