Upshifting and downshifting, we’ve heard this talk before. Local control means local responsibility. Look at non-mainstream critics of EFAs, like Doris. They have been warning us about the unwanted consequences of expanding state control.
John Birch Society people have been pointing out the problems with taking NRPC (federal) money for decades.
And remember that $22M federal COVID money item that led to the 10/13/21 executive council arrests? That was about the language behind the strings attached, giving the CDC carte blanche to isolate and quarantine anyone at THEIR pleasure. I think I’ve made my point about the problems that come with upshifting.
Downshifting, being the opposite of upshifting, is a word that’s been misunderstood and vilified by the enemy camp, particularly in the legislature, but also by the people that voted for them. It’s also something I want to talk about regarding the incoming Senate because of how our Senate districts are mapped, more so than rep districts.
When you look at the 8 seats that were already blue, they were and are unwinnable because they’re for Dover (4), Lebanon (5), Keene (10), Nashua (13), Concord (15), Manchester (20), Portsmouth (21), and its suburbs (24). Those urban seats have been lost at sea for quite some time, but what about the flipped seats (2, 7, 9, 11,12, 16, and 18)?
As much as I like seeing Tim Lang return to private citizenry, I am not convinced that his locals in Sanbornton and vicinity want to be paying for Nashua’s expensive issues. Dan Innis is in Bradford, quite the rural area out west on 89. I don’t think the people who voted to replace him with that carpetbagger see any local value in filling Nashua’s potholes.
What about Denise’s constituents all the way out to Hinsdale? There’s nothing in it for them, either. I think of that two-celled meme with a guy at the podium asking the crowd if they want free stuff on top and the same guy asking the same crowd who wants to pay for other people’s free stuff below.
Breaking with order for a moment, maybe Victoria Sullivan and Senator Murphy’s opponents won their races by claiming the ability to bring more money to Manchester. Maybe not, but to those constituents, I offer the Alexis de Tocqueville quote about the collapse of free society being attributed to voters thinking they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. It doesn’t end well, as the fiscal collapse fallout always ends with a dictatorship.
Saving Districts 11 and 12 for last, I understand that Tim McGough was his own enemy and deserved to lose. Stuff about McGough has already been said and made well known, but do Milford, Wilton, Amherst and Merrimack really want shared responsibility for funding solutions to Nashua’s problems? Alderman Dowd must think so, assuming that stupid octogenarian even thinks at all! And what about his own incoming senator, Comrade Carryl Roy (CCR)?
Kevin was ousted by a Hollis school board chair that wanted her local taxpayers to eat the student debt of all their local faculty. CCR will represent only 1/3 of Nashua, but that district runs about 30 miles along the state line, including red New Ipswich and red Rindge! Those 2 towns will NOT appreciate funding any appropriations that exist in Alderman Dowd’s fiscal wet dream. I’ll also point out who was the Finance and JSSB chair in 2023 when $4.5M in ESSER funds were lost track of and kept secret until AFTER he was reelected. Alderman Dowd.
Grokster Steve mentioned it in an earlier article, but I’ll put it another way. Remember Robert DiNero gesturing (2 fingers pointing at his eyes followed by index finger pointing at his future son-in-law) to Mr. Focker and saying, “I am watching YOU.”
To all those freshmen Dems about to be sworn into the “Senate from Hell 2.0,” their alert constituents ought to be saying the same thing.
