Written by Roberta Biros
As a ‘political outsider’, I find it amusing to watch ‘politicians’. Some would say that I am now a ‘politician’, but I would respectfully disagree. While it is true that I am running for political office, I am far from a ‘politician’ . . . and I plan on keeping it that way.
‘Politicians’ are quite different from ‘real people’ in that they ‘say what needs to be said’ and they ‘do only what is asked of them’ with the sole purpose of getting elected. ‘Lifetime politicians’ are the worst in that they haven’t had a genuine action or reaction in so long that they forget that there is such a thing. As a ‘real person’, my actions and reactions are based on facts, data, opinions, and sometimes emotions. Right or wrong, I have firm opinions about most issues. Those opinions don’t come from a reaction to popular opinion polls . . . they come from an analysis of information and an understanding of the issues involved. There is a difference.
I recently did an experiment, and I wanted to share my findings with all of you, my loyal readers. As the ‘non-politician’ candidate in the race for Mercer County Treasurer, I’ve been running my campaign in an unconventional manner. I have no “political insiders” to offer guidance, so we make our decisions based on gut instinct. Sometimes we make the right decision, and sometimes not . . . but we adapt quickly and move ahead without hesitation. I’ve decided to try some things just to see what would happen, and the results were rather amusing.
The Experiment
I live in Delaware Grove, a small village in the center of Delaware Township located just outside of Fredonia. Last week, Fredonia held “Old Home Week” in the downtown square. Being so closely located to downtown Fredonia, we’ve always considered “Old Home Week” to be ‘our fair’. While folks attend the fair from all over Mercer County, the people that are ‘regulars’ at the fair are locals like ourselves. We had every intention of participating in the parade (as we have with all of the parades in the County), but we also volunteered with the local Volunteer Fire Department to help in the food booth all week. We were looking forward to spending time with the locals. In anticipation of the additional traffic during “Old Home Week”, I erected a billboard in my yard advertising my campaign. I figured that it might be a good idea to take advantage of the ‘bump’ in traffic in an effort to increase name recognition. I also decided to scatter yard signs around the downtown area. I hit the key intersections several days prior to the fair, and I intended on removing the signs at the conclusion of the fair. No one ‘advised’ us to do any of these things, we just did it because it seemed to make sense. I thought nothing more of it.
We erected our billboard and put up yard signs in the downtown area on Sunday, August 2nd. The fair kicked off with the parade on Tuesday, August 4th. We attended the fair each and every night. It was during our short drive to the fair on Friday night, August 7th, that I saw my first glimpse of Newton’s Third Law. For those of you that are not familiar with Newton’s Third Law of Motion, it simply states that “To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” While driving into town on Friday evening, I saw that my opponent had found an individual that was willing to erect a yard sign on their property entering town. They also drove through town and placed signs in all of the same locations that I had selected. I laughed.
The Results of the Experiment
It is amazing that a politician of 16 years needed to ‘react’ to my tactics rather than coming up with a strategy of her own. Very funny. My husband and I discussed it and we found it very amusing.
More of the Same
This morning, I experienced another similar scenario. Last week I published a blog post that stated that Representative Mark Longietti had recently joined the “Alliance to Stop I-80 Tolling” (read HERE). He made his announcement on August 3rd, and I published it on August 4th. Today I found out that Senator Bob Robbins . . . in a ‘reaction’ to Mark Longietti . . . also announced that he had joined the “Alliance to Stop I-80 Tolling” (read HERE) on August 4th.
Newton’s Third Law
Newton’s Third Law (“To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”) does not only relate to motion. It seems that it also describes politics. It seems that ‘politicians’ simply ‘react’. They don’t make a decision because it is the ‘right thing to do’ or ‘it just makes sense’, instead they simply sway in whichever direction the wind is blowing. It is unfortunate.
There was a time when I thought that ‘politicians’ were leaders. After years of experience, I have learned what many already knew . . . ‘politicians’ are followers. They don’t dare to think outside of the box because with original thought comes risk . . . the risk of losing their career positions.
In Closing
I’d like to add that my statements aren’t meant to be directed at ALL “elected officials”, as I don’t feel that all “elected officials” are also “politicians”. These statements are directed at those career politicians that are simply hanging onto their livelihood by the tips of their fingers. I’m not the only one who sees the problem, and time will eventually correct ‘the problem’.
There are LEADERS and there are FOLLOWERS, and it is about time that elected officials become the leaders. To quote Thomas Paine, “Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way”. To Senator Robbins (and to ‘my opponent’), I’d like to suggest the later.
As always, just my opinion.
Mercer County Conservatives 
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