There are so many days when I love living in Camden, when I’m genuinely touched to be invited over for a “chat and chew,” or catch the Christmas Parade, or watching a basketball game at Camden High. Election Day is not one of those days.
I used to love election day. I have fond memories of going to the voting booth with my mother as a kid, and her getting an extra “I voted” sticker for me. Or my dad walking in after work, and my parents arguing over whether a vote for Ross Perot was wasted or not.
Voting in Camden is not like that. No sticker. But more than that, no excitement. Because there’s a devil’s choice in the city of Camden — a choice between a surprisingly conservative democratic party that’s gutted local unions, displaced local jobs, and doubled-down on a downtown-centric redevelopment plan that fails to reach most of the city residents, or a Republican party that uses a “we’re not them” strategy to hide the same set of ideas that aren’t resonating here or in other urban areas (“fix” the city by lowering taxes and attracting businesses while shaming welfare spending).
A Devil’s Choice is the fallacy that there are only two options, and you have to choose amongst them. Except in Camden, it’s essentially only one option. Yes, there are Republicans, though they haven’t made inroads (either ideologically or through grassroots politics) in quite some time. And yes, there are some dedicated folks (who I really respect), running in other districts from the left of the current democratic party. But I’ve seen little evidence that these challengers have been able to transcend any of the difficulties of running against the local democratic infrastructure. Local challengers have failed to build the coalition we saw thrive in Newark, between the progressive left, unions and local neighborhoods who feel excluded by a downtown-centered recovery strategy (or its sisters, gentrification or the closing of public schools). Instead, we see two candidates with very similar platforms in the 2nd Ward (Namibia El Burke and Cornell Grant) splitting votes, in a district which already features the City Councilman (Brian Coleman) who largely reflects their positions. In my district, there was no challenger for council. The Camden Comeback Coalition has high hopes for Mo’Neke Ragsdale in the 1st Ward, and while I’d love to be surprised, I haven’t seen a groundswell on social media or anywhere else.
Sean Brown’s recent write-up on the elections gets at the dynamic nicely — incumbents don’t even feel threatened enough to come out to debates.
It’s a process that feeds upon itself. The lack of credible challengers (and pathways for challengers to show their credibility — something I’ll touch on another day) leads to demoralizing visits to the voting booth and low voter turnout. Voters see a Republican Party that has lost all trust in the region by peddling the same fiscal conservatism and welfare shaming in a community that desperately needs spending on infrastructure, public institutions and a safety net, and a Democratic Party that is deeply influenced by the political conservatism of South Jersey Democrats and has no qualms about gutting unions, focusing dollars on downtown institutions, and using non-democratic means to disempower Camden residents.
courtesy of Sean Brown’s blog (linked to in post
Go ahead. Pick some. I did. But it won’t feel good.
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Nothing is impossible .
It is imperative that we stop splitting the vote. As the founder of the Camden Comeback I am extremely saddened because it is the elders whom they have a stronghold on. It is the street money they have to buy off voters and it is our inability to unify that keeps us from at least competing in any election. Full slates have been formed and namely in 2013. The lies the lack of education as it pertains to non partisan destroyed our chances.everyone wants a piece of the pie and they do not care who they hurt in the process of eating from that pie. They take the money and instead of voting for real people who are doing the work they go vote for the same individuals who are doing what they are doing to Us. This is an excellent article but it only begins to scratch the surface of the plagues we face in Camden.
Have any of you ever been involved in actually directly supporting a political candidate in Camden that dares to go up against the status quo, by contributing financially, creating a “ticket” of candidates, or even reading the ELEC hand book that is designed to make it difficult to get any opposition to the main stream two party system. Well, I have and it stinks. I’ve run the streets of Camden handing out flyers, knocking on doors, organizing small clandestine meetings with people that may turn against you at any minute. My bank account reflects its support of such candidates. But the system is rigged against such efforts.
The MACHINE is in play with its large financial influence, not only does it pay to play, provide GOTV funds, but it also creates selected civil servant UNION jobs for unqualified GOTV activist working for the MACHINE. So until you create a “megatron” type of machine that has checks and balances preventing it from doing the same thing once it wins, we are stuck with this crew all the way from the Top of the Ticket.
But if you are interested in a social experiment – try developing a ticket of candidates all from Camden in a non-presidential election year. But it has to be created correctly and precisely so that you have a banner on top of the column. You need a label to run on – just like they have Democrat, Republican, Nomination by Petition – you have to create an entire ticket allowing you to have your own column. This is the big ticket and the only way to win in Camden.
But you have to have someone on the inside to help get this done.
Scott, I agree with you wholeheartedly. Good thing we don’t live in Australia where voting is mandatory! Sometimes, I look at the choices and throw my mail-in ballot in the trash. Now that’s considered very un-American in some circles. I really don’t give a fig because I try to stay informed and make intelligent choices. I won’t vote if the choices are unacceptable.
My question: if the choices are no good, why vote for any of them? Why not send a message that we will not accept those who the parties have presented before us? I’m getting to that point very quickly. Yes, I can complain about someone that I didn’t put into office. If I put someone bad into office, can I really complain being that I helped put them there?
With how bad the Democratic Party in Camden is, I’ve been shocked the Green Party hasn’t tried to recruit candidates in Camden.