Blame the stay-at-home progressives

What a sad commentary the recent City Council election results are on Asheville progressives’ political commitment. Before the election, narrow loser Bryan Freeborn publicly warned how critical this election was to maintaining the progressive majority on City Council. … We lost the opportunity to install the only candidate for City Council—Elaine Lite—who was demonstrably and unwaveringly committed to countering the madness of the destruction of the beautiful downtown urban landscape by greedy and selfish developers, and to preserving the oldest and most glorious mountaintops on the face of the planet. But we have [also] lost the progressive majority we previously had on City Council.

Who is to blame for this debacle? More than anyone else, the self-proclaimed liberals and progressives of Asheville who talk the talk but couldn’t or wouldn’t motivate themselves to get off their butts and walk the walk down to the polling booths to reinstate Bryan Freeborn and add Lite to the city’s most important governing body.

Of course, it also soberingly demonstrates what has repeatedly been demonstrated on the national level: The corporate, monied interests that control national-domestic and foreign policy always seem to trump progressive political-party machines in getting out the vote for the selfish policies of self-interest and financial self-aggrandizement of the super-wealthy few—at the expense of the well-being of the community as a whole and [its] ordinary citizens.

Over the next few years, as you witness firsthand the likely increasing uglification of historic Asheville and the decimation of the green mountain slopes that drew many of you here, remember that if you did not get out and vote for the progressive trio of Newman, Freeborn and Lite in the 2007 City Council elections, then you have no one to blame for this regressive turn in Asheville city politics but yourself.

— Giorgio Cave
Asheville

SHARE

Thanks for reading through to the end…

We share your inclination to get the whole story. For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. We want everyone to have access to our stories. That’s a big part of why we've never charged for the paper or put up a paywall.

We’re pretty sure that you know journalism faces big challenges these days. Advertising no longer pays the whole cost. Media outlets around the country are asking their readers to chip in. Xpress needs help, too. We hope you’ll consider signing up to be a member of Xpress. For as little as $5 a month — the cost of a craft beer or kombucha — you can help keep local journalism strong. It only takes a moment.

About Webmaster
Mountain Xpress Webmaster Follow me @MXWebTeam

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

5 thoughts on “Blame the stay-at-home progressives

  1. Dionysis

    Sad but true. The paltry turnout for this important election mirrors the apathy that seems to permeate this country. One can only hope that in the next election, people will get off their soap boxes long enough to actually get to the voting booths and reverse this unfortunate result. Rest assured that those who support unbridled development, coupled with those who will vote for any so-called ‘conservative’ out of their knee-jerk disdain for anything remotely ‘progressive’, will vote.

  2. travelah

    Giorgio, perhaps it would have been wiser to step back and review your comments for reasonableness. Butner came in ahead of Lite and to use your faulty assumption, we could also state that Butner siphoned off votes from Russell. Add to this the understanding that voter turnout was low across the political spectrum rather than just among the minority false progressives.

    Your last paragraph is telling. Do you realize that this outside leftist and eclectic interest group that has moved here is at odds with those who are from here or have at least recognized the moderate nature of those whose roots are western NC? In other words, the false progressives are part and parcel along with the monied equity interests in attempting to disenfranchise the majority of people who are moderate and for the most part are fed up with “wierdness”. Of course we may both be wrong and be quite surprised at the political drift in the area.

  3. Have you ever thought, maybe all the Progressives DID turn out? … maybe they are just a splinter minority tossed here in there in a sea of people who think differently?

    Yep.

  4. RBernier

    Ralph,

    Have you noticed that “Liberals” have changed their names? No more Liberal!!

    Progressives – They left out Jan Davis & the word got out which pissed more people off than anything.

    They took their postion, & I am glad they did……

    I hope they run the same type of race the next time….

    Even the Yellow Dogs seen right threw the recent mess up their with the Fab4.

    Lets Move on………

  5. Nam Vet

    “Have you ever thought, maybe all the Progressives DID turn out? …”

    LOL, right on Ralph. Yes, methinks the “progressives” assume a majority they do not have. And I am curious about the name “progressive”. Just WHAT are we progressing toward? Full socialism, or?

    Bottom Line is Bryan Freeborn is an inexperienced puppy who deserved to lose. We live without his Vermont socialist education in Asheville. The day I want an outsider deciding our fate will never come.

Leave a Reply

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.