It flummoxes me, this party politics Kool-Aid drinking thing.

The Horizon (IU Southeast) reporter does very well with one side of the story.

The problem for longtime observers of the local scene remains the perennial disconnect between what is viewed in the bathroom mirror, and what exists in reality, out beyond the front door of one's home.

I know that both Cliff and Greg are being sincere in their pronouncements. What I'll never understand is how one can accurately diagnose pressing issues, express favor for various cures, and then remain a loyalist of a political party (our Democrats) holding an absolute, unassailable majority of municipal government seats for the past 12 years, but failing to act on either.

It flummoxes me, this party politics Kool-Aid drinking thing.

How can they publicly support a mayor, Jeff Gahan, who has failed to address their issues apart from vacuous private expressions of support hinging on his re-election, and has made prospects for their cures even more remote owing to massive spending for wants, rather than needs?

What am I missing?

Is it cognitive dissonance?

The Stockholm Syndrome?

The insidiousness of group think?

IU Southeast faculty run for New Albany City Council, by Jordan Williams

 ... For Phipps, the interest in city council started in a way similar to Staten’s.

The desire to make a change came about in response to his 2001 move to downtown New Albany.
“I didn’t have a lot of involvement in politics when I lived in the suburbs. I was out of touch with what was going on,” said Phipps.

“I moved downtown and started to see the urban problems that I didn’t see while living in the suburbs.”
Phipps began his crusade for change by going to city council meetings and bringing attention to the variety of concerns being neglected in the surrounding city.