Here & There Column 11-16-10

Thoughts About The Election Totals

The November monthly meeting of our non-political Sullivan County Coffee Klatsch discussed figures and what we felt were the end results of these mid-term elections.
So that it's clearly understood we have seven regulars in our Klatsch comprised of three Democrats, three Republicans and one Independent and when we first got together and decided to meet regularly for home baked donuts and fresh made coffee from beans we vowed that we would never become political but that we would discuss political happenings in our nation, state and county.
Our first thoughts after looking at the mid-term results were that the voting public has a renewed determination that when the politicians are elected they are going to be held accountable every step of the way.
Several in our group pointed out that this election said that we cannot allow members of the new Congress to forget for a moment why they got elected.
The reasons why voters changed so drastically the membership in the House of Representatives was recorded at the exit polls which said that the majority of the folks want to roll back what they call is Big Government.
Taxes and government spending seemed to be a leading factor in the way voters looked at the mid-term elections. One in our group strongly pointed out that New York State Governor-Elect Andrew Cuomo has called for consolidation of government and shrinking state agencies along with a property tax cap.
Our Klatsch members unanimously agreed that no longer can citizens and taxpayers support the Good Old Boy style of politics that has got our county, state and this nation in the position it finds itself in today.
A retired banker in our Klatsch said that all governments have to learn how to balance their budgets which of course includes freezing salaries and taxes and in some instances reducing work forces.
We also felt that all government has to learn how to live within their means which includes establishment of a hard cap on new discretionary spending.
The Klatsch members reminds everyone that the economy is still struggling to shake off the effects of the worse recession in decades and now all government officials must put forth strong efforts to revitalize the economy.
Lessons have been learned in these mid-term elections and our Klatsch believes that never before has the electorate been so focused on the proper role of government.......and that we have become an electorate that is well informed by the print media, cable news and Internet outlets.