Responsive Government

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My partner’s excellent piece on Hartford’s Downtown North fiasco got me thinking. I want to say from the outset, that I agree with Jamil’s take. The stadium was a bad idea and poorly executed. But, I’m an optimistic sort. I try (unfortunately I often fail, but I try) to find something positive in any situation. Luckily for me, finding a positive in Mayor Segarra’s gigantic failure was rather easy. It turns out that our system of representative democracy works. Pedro Segarra failed the city of Hartford and was soon voted out of office.

I know there’s no guarantee that the new mayor will be any better than the old mayor. And I know, due to election cycles, focus on the highest elected positions and bad press coverage, that it’s unlikely that all of the responsible representatives will ever be voted out. But that doesn’t change the fact that the people of Hartford voted and made a real change.

I honestly think this is an important point to remember. Hartford has lots of problems. Connecticut has lots of problems. America has lots of problems. Yet even with all those problems, regular people can still hold their elected officials responsible. I give the people of Hartford credit for doing just that. And I hope everyone else learns that lesson. We should always hold our representatives accountable. We won’t do that by complaining. We will do it by voting.

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