Presidential Politics and Municipal Concerns
Lowell – Many voters in Massachusetts 18th Middlesex District have been asking me about presidential politics, and who I will cast my vote for in November. Often, Republican and Democratic voters, alike, have expressed their concerned about choosing the lesser of the two evils. Let me assure you one thing – evil will be evil regardless of the decision as to whom you’ll cast your vote in November. However, I believe, that neither of the candidates has evil intentions. It is their rhetoric, packaged in a 30 second commercials and 140 characters tweets that have drowned out their true message to the public. The distortions created by media packaging have been made worse by a national media that has not been doing its job to properly vet these presidential candidates. The divisions in our ideological political spectrums have not allowed all of us to have a candid conversation about what concerns us as citizens. Many talking points offered by political pundits are limited by twitter characters rather than by substantive differences on such issues as American exceptionalism, economic prosperity, educational, freedom, justice, and equality, and research and development in technology, science, and medicine.
Another media related issue is the failure to focus their attention on local political races. Often, many municipal races raise concerns from local constituents. As much as I love hearing and watching national politics, municipal voters are concerned about the deterioration of our infrastructure, rising healthcare cost, transforming our educational system so that our children can compete globally, the safety of neighborhoods, and deteriorating trust in our law enforcement agencies. Immigration, a significant issue in Lowell, needs to be better addressed, not by mocking and vilifying immigrants, but by coming up with constructive suggestions for improving the process, to make it fairer and more security oriented.
On the important question of education, which is the pathway to the American dream, I have spoken to educators about standardized test. They despise Common Core testing. Federal educational standards should not dictate how each state educates their students. State, local officials and parents know best about educating their children. Sadly, federal policy has eliminated opportunities for parents to impact their children’s education. I have every confidence that teachers want the best for each student. Politicians and teachers’ unions are the instruments for transforming our educational system for the 21th century. By obstructing choices for parents to choose schools that are best for their children, politicians will limit the opportunities available for educating our future generation. As a refugee that graduated from Lowell High School, I know what it’s like to have a formal education that gave me the foundation to earn my bachelor and master degrees. It is not a private or public education that counted the most. It was the opportunity that I was given to choose what I believe was best for me.
Our educational system alone will not preserve the American exceptionalism. We must, as a country, not only identify those underlying issues. We must work together to repair and improve our nation, one community at a time. We must rebuild our fundamental core competency in manufacturing, infrastructure, immigration, healthcare, public safety, and most of all generate jobs that will sustain growth for all working Americans.
In conclusion, local voters see national politics as a divisive contest that makes a mockery of our values. As an American and a candidate for public office, I cannot accept this divisiveness. I will not allow it to drive a wedge between our citizens and cloud the sense of shared concern that we all must have to improve the quality of our city, state, and nation. We must fight for individual rights over collectivism. We must preserve the freedom, justice, and equality that our forefathers have sacrificed for us. After all, America is the beacon of hope to millions of people around the world and a land of freedom that others have sought to replicate. To preserve our exceptionalism, we cannot be blinded by our collective ideology. Our national political conversation must respect dissenting opinion. Without addressing municipal concerns, we destroy our exceptionalism.
Kamara Kay is a Republican candidate for Massachusetts State Representative for 18th Middlesex District. He is currently a Senior Analyst for IT Disaster Recovery in Operational Risks for a financial firm. He served as a Program Chair for the School of Information Technology & Electronics. He can be reached at KamaraKay4StateRep@gmail.com
