I've done my best to stay out of this lengthy debate (if you are reading this at ktracy.com visit Northwest Indiana Politics for further background information); however one of the last comments pretty much forced me into it.

For anybody that has read any of my pieces about the RTA or the RDA or the MMA or the TNT (you all get my gist) I'm fairly open-minded. I'm caught because there are two very good cases brought up about the triple capital letter thingies, and instead of interjecting my opinion into a topic that I know very little about (or personally care that much about), I've left it to those that felt strongly one way or the other to duke out this battle (I've been fighting my own, as many of you know, with my piece on unions). Ideologically, I agree with my NWIP friends: I hate taxes, and I hate them a lot. However, I also recognize that certain needs must be met by a communities government, and on top of that particular barb wire fence is where I rest.

So like I said, I'm neutral to the idea and am still deciding exactly how I'm going to vote. With that said, this particular comment by Leyva: "I am sorry that the people in this blog and that are associated with this blog hates the TEA movement," caught my attention. If you will look at the top of Northwest Indiana Politics blog (I'll give you all a moment) you will see these words: "The views expressed are those of each author, not necessarily the editors." JUST because some guy pretending to be the wizard of OZ gives some criticism (criticism that could have been put/received  in a much much more constructive tone) doesn't mean that everybody that writes or is associated with these blogs are "conspiring" together. I have no personal problems with Leyva, Bonnie, Faith, Steve, Chris, Kevin...or anybody else on either of these two sites, and I can guarantee that there is not one person in this list that I agree 100% with on EVERYTHING. For example, I am involved with NWIP (not as much recently because of my personal undecidedness) and am still supportive, and it wouldn't be right of me to assume that because there are certain factions of RLC members across the country that believe that 9/11 is an inside job and there are RLC members affiliated with NWIP that NWIP therefore believes in conspiracy mumbo-jumbo.

WITH THAT SAID. This kind of crap is the only thing that will allow liberal Democrats to continue to hold seats nationally and will allow liberals to infiltrate the seats of Northwest Indiana (even more so than they already are). While I have stated the Mr. OZ should have been much more civil in tone about his criticisms, on that same note, with all due respect, those that are willing to put their name out there on such a large level should be prepared to handle those criticisms in a way that doesn't reflect badly on that individual. For example, after the article that was done by Jerry Davich on my piece about unions, the amount of angry hate mail was enormous (and hilarious, but that's a whole 'nother story), and it was everything I could do to keep from name calling and ranting; because I still believe in that old adage of "You attract more flies with honey." Yes, its unfortunate that people can't talk about these things civilly, but that's why mother always said don't talk about religion and politics. Yes, I know that NWIP isn't about one party or the other and isn't interested in endorsing candidates, but regardless it still boils into the political soup just the same.

I think everybody needs to take a huge breath and realize that if a group of (generally) conservative people can't even talk civilly amongst each other without making accusations and personal attacks, then we're screwed when it comes time for people to step up to the polls.

Archived Comments

Kevin Tracy
Very well put. Hopefully all this nonsense will die down so we can go back to geographically broader topics again. I know readers in California, Ohio, and Russia have got to be rolling their eyes reading commentary about regional issues.

Travis Gearhart
Agreed.

Rob O.
Probably should keep the local posts to NWIP as Kevin's Blog spends more time hitting national issues.

Kevin Tracy
Well, I make it a point to only post here, which means some local stuff is bound to make it on this site. I just try to keep it to a minimum... hopefully now that we stated our thoughts on the RTA, we won't have to come back to it.

Travis Gearhart
Plus, I also posted this on Northwest Indiana Politics, I cross post everything on both sites, and since I don't write too much about local events (although that might change soon) I try to utilize both forums so that the most people possible can read the posts and give there opinions.

daltonsbriefs
Thanks for the activity recently on Northwest Indiana Politics guys, and Kevin if you ever do feel the desire to discuss local issues, feel free to post on our site as well. We'd love to have your point of view ... I know you feel more at home (no place like home) with larger issues though so keep up the great work.