We Are Coming Father Abraham.

I appreciate any author who bases an argument in the historical record.

As it pertains to issues like poverty and homelessness, we find that a "higher purpose" in this context truly represents bipartisanship in Southern Indiana.

By this I mean that while certain members of both major political parties have involved themselves in the issues, it remains that in the main, not one of the higher ups will touch them. 

A People's Contest: Searching for Our Higher Purpose, by Nick Vaughn (The Aggregate News)

On July 4th, 1861, shortly after Fort Sumter had been shelled by Confederates, President Abraham Lincoln addressed Congress. In his speech to Congress, Lincoln declared that the conflict facing the fractured nation was "a People's contest," stating "On the side of the Union, it is a struggle for maintaining in the world, that form, and substance of government, whose leading object is, to elevate the condition of men...”

Elevating the condition of men, as Lincoln put it, was an issue that transcended the Civil War, but by declaring the war a People's contest, Lincoln was able to frame the war in a way that would pit the foundational principles of the Constitution and of mankind's contract with government against those who sought to destroy them.

Today, there is no armed conflict that threatens to disband our Union and pit family against family, instead there is a deep political divide that threatens to irreparably fracture our civic institutions, especially at the local level. Through the partisan battles and name-calling conflicts, our community has lost sight of our higher purpose ...

Baird flips, connector road flops, and the ochlocracy rules.

This happened Tuesday.

Here's the plan commission's climbdown ...

New Albany commission amends plan, removes controversial road from park project, by Daniel Suddeath (N and T)

New Little League fields and a Floyd County park are closer to becoming a reality; however, more hurdles will have to be cleared before the joint project comes to fruition.

But there won’t be a road in the middle of the park ... The New Albany Plan Commission voted 6-4 Tuesday to amend its comprehensive plan to remove the section that called for the completion of Highland Oaks Drive from Kamer Miller Road to Charlestown Road.

 ... and here's the explanation proffered by a crucial "swing" voter.

Councilwoman Shirley Baird, who is also a member of the commission, voted against the variance for the park in April. She said Tuesday the residents of Highland Oaks overwhelmingly opposed the road extension; therefore, Baird voted for the amendment.

Mrs Baird may have been right as to the specific merits of the non-road, but I doubt she'd apply the same logic to a human rights issue, i.e., 9 out of 10 New Albany's supposed "Democrats" oppose same sex marriage, therefore ... well, you get my drift, even if they don't.

So, refresh my memory: First the Mt. Tabor roundabout, then Highland Oaks Drive. How many residents of the Spring, Elm and Market corridors have to fill a meeting to get two-way streets?

Or does "quality of life" even apply to us?

Ochlocracy ... from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ochlocracy (Greek: ὀχλοκρατία, okhlokratía; Latin: ochlocratia) or mob rule is the rule of government by mob or a mass of people, or the intimidation of legitimate authorities. As a pejorative for majoritarianism, it is akin to the Latin phrase mobile vulgus meaning "the fickle crowd", from which the English term "mob" was originally derived in the 1680s.

Ochlocracy ("rule of the general populace") is democracy ("rule of the people") spoiled by demagoguery, "tyranny of the majority", and the rule of passion over reason, just like oligarchy ("rule of a few") is aristocracy ("rule of the best") spoiled by corruption, and tyranny is monarchy spoiled by lack of virtue. Ochlocracy is synonymous in meaning and usage to the modern, informal term "mobocracy", which emerged from a much more recent colloquial etymology.