Partisan politics and the leadership void

Partisan politics is entrenched in a vicious cycle of right and wrong without any real discussions on how we can come to a mutual understanding to solve our problems for the good of our society.

It’s about control, counting the votes on your side and increasing your votes to maintain a majority, which is a decisive means of moving agendas forward.

Having served many years as a Party officer, I find this to be an unfortunate reality of our democratic process.

Many of our leaders and activists within our own Party have lost sight of why they serve. Rare are the noble acts of dignity for the betterment of society.

We focus on the partisanship and winning at all costs as does the other side.

Even to the point of when we lose on an issue or a campaign, we still are reluctant to recognize the other side’s point of view and leadership. We are unwilling to find ways to work together and outreach to the other side.

I have witnessed this first hand within our own Party ranks as two young leaders vied for my position that I stepped down from serving for six years.

Some of the older activists were so venomous towards a candidate that I sought to fill my vacancy. Friends were hurt personally and professionally because of it. The negativity was tremendous and even though the candidate that I supported won and offered an olive branch to the other candidate and his supporters, he was received with animosity by a few.

It is a sad state of our political process that we would cannibalize our own youth.

Our citizens are turned off by this partisan negativity that mars our democratic system to the point of historically low voter turn out in our elections. Apathy is rampant and there is a void of leadership.

Yet we wonder why DTS registration is growing.

I believe that in order to change this extreme deep-rooted partisanship of right and wrong and winning at all costs attitude with our political system, we must look to the future and away from teaching negativity.

We must focus on building leadership.

Not the type of leadership that teaches you how to win a political campaign, but build leadership that develops our values and teaches what it takes to make a difference in a civil society.

Value based leadership where we focus on ethical behavior and the honor of serving our community for the public’s good, not for one’s own ego and ambitions.

The Party would do well in developing such leadership training that teaches the core values and democratic principles that builds leadership for our future. Instead of training our activists about registering voters at the precinct level, we should train them on what it means to be a Democrat.

What it means to be a citizen in a society with free elections and the responsibilities associated with it.

What it means to be a leader.

PEACE.

Louis R. Reyes