The election set many people on their ears — especially political types who didn’t care enough to really get a handle on just how upset many Marylanders are at the state of the state and its local jurisdictions.
In the sixth legislative district, which covers Dundalk, Edgemere, Fort Howard and parts of Essex, three Republicans won seats that have been occupied by Democrats (no matter how conservative some of those “Democrats” were) for as long as most can remember.
When State Senator Norman Stone (D) announced his retirement after a 50-year career in government, Del. John Olszewski Jr. gave up his seat in the House of Delegates to pursue Stone’s senatorial seat. He received Stone’s endorsement and was touted as the heir apparent to the senate seat.
Olszewski, in what many consider the biggest shocker and upset in local election results, lost in November to the unknown Republican Johnny Salling. If there was collateral damage done by the voters, Olszewski, an intelligent, capable and passionate leader, was certainly one of its victims.
And Todd Crandell, a Republican, defeated Democratic challenger Joe DiCara, who defeated four other candidates in the primary election. Four-term Councilman John Olszewski Sr. chose not to run for a fifth term.
In a sign that the Olszewski name had lost its influence, Councilman Olszewski’s choice to succeed him, Ron Yeatman, finished last among the five primary candidates.
Republican Hogan soundly defeated Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown in what many perceive as a thumbs-down thumping of Gov. Martin O’Malley’s policies.
Which brings me to the comment I’ve been reflecting on since early November.
After the election dust had settled, I posted the following on Facebook: “A new day in Maryland ... time for others to have a chance to right a sinking ship, whether our current officials want to admit it's sinking or not. And those are the thoughts of a lifelong Democrat who voted for a whole bunch of folks with the letter R behind their names.”
My friend Geff responded with “Maryland moved back in with its parents yesterday. It's cheaper that way, and it's a great way to delay taking responsibility.”
Now, I’m not sure what he meant by that, and I admitted to myself that I didn’t get the analogy. But like I said, I got to thinking about his comment and formed my own interpretation.
Maryland (the government) didn’t just move back home with the parents (taxpayers). The mad-as-hell parents tossed the current group of freeloaders out of the free basement apartment and told them to get their own jobs and see what it’s like to try to survive on a real paycheck in this tax-and-spend state.
Government (freeloaders) has been living at home with the parents, so to speak, since elected governing began. Think about it … government earns no honest money of its own; it depends on an allowance from the parents (taxpayers) to pay its way.
The freeloaders user their allowance to wine and dine themselves and their friends on exotic foods and beverages, have smart phones, company cars, drivers, body guards, travel the world on the taxpayer's money and have extremely generous pension plans. With their overly generous paychecks—again provided by taxpayer dollars—they buy season football and baseball tickets, have vacation homes, trade their personal cars in every couple of years and generally live high off the hog, so to speak.
Meanwhile, the parents have to budget every last penny of their ever-decreasing paychecks, If they’re lucky enough to still have one. They’re buying orange-stickered meats at the market (many of us know what that means), driving their 10-year-old cars, wearing their three-year-old (or older) clothing and eating out at the local bar and grill on Tuesday nights for half-price burger night.
When the freeloading kids have blown through their allowance, instead of cutting back, making tough decisions and doing without, they go to their parents and demand —not ask—for more money. These “kids” raise every tax and fee they can think of and keep spending at a rate that is unsustainable.
Metaphorically speaking, the basement dwellers are out on their boats every weekend, vacationing at mountain and beach resorts several times a year and spending like there’s no tomorrow while their parents are using their vacation days to go to the doctor, get the 10-year-old car’s oil changed and taking care of sick grandchildren that they’re raising because the adult children refuse to take responsibility for the children they gave birth to.
While the basement dwellers are burning through their allowance, the parents have been laid off, furloughed and asked to take permanent pay cuts. The parents are unemployed, underemployed and/or haven’t had pay raises in upward of eight years. And while their gross paychecks haven’t changed (unless the amount has gone done) the power of the net result continues to shrink because of increasing taxes, health issuance premiums, fees and other costs.
As parents are paying more for health insurance, they’re taking a double and triple hit, because the quality of the insurance coverage decreases with the increasing premiums, so it costs more per doctor’s visit, per specialist’s appointment and per prescription.
If these basement dwellers were our biological children, we would laugh in their faces when they ask for their allowance to be increased. But the freeloading government members legislate their allowance, and we have no choice but to pay up.
So here’s what I think about the basement apartment analogy of election results.
Because we have no choice, we will always have freeloaders living off of us. But here’s what happened in November. The mad-as-hell parents said enough is enough and booted out the current occupants. Many Democrats finally turned their backs on the party that has turned its back on the working class and voted for Republican challengers, hoping new faces would bring new ideas and tough budget decisions to the governing process.
I’m hoping the election results are a sign of voters becoming more involved, more informed and more willing to get off the sofa to actually vote. The message was sent to career politicians that they need to remember they were elected to represent a constituency, and were not sent to office to take care of personal priorities and wheel and deal their votes with their buddies.
And Democrats should get the message that they don't have our votes simply because they're Democrats. They need to show some substance, they need to tell us what they will do if elected (as opposed to throwing mud at their opponent) and they need to talk to us more often than once every four years.
Just as good leaders are willing to "go across the aisle" to accomplish what's best for the jurisdiction, so too are voters willing to cross over on election day. Don't take our vote for granted; try earning it.
So the newly elected group of elected leaders need to know this: We’re watching. We’re keeping an extra close eye on you basement dwellers and come four years from now, if you didn’t follow through on your promises and you forget who we were the day after the election, you're out of here. You'll get the boot and the basement apartment will be turned over to the next group.
We can’t eliminate the free ride for our government but we can limit the amount of time the freeloaders spend on our dime.
