Cambridge Councilor Explains His Vote

[From article]
I learned that the opportunity we enjoy carries the responsibility to protect it — you can’t have a government for the people, by the people, if the people don’t show up.
[. . .]
I’m admittedly more hesitant to share the second half of that story.
[. . .]
I’ll never forget how policies I knew would hurt immigrants like my father were couched in terms of fostering independence and self-reliance; how ideas that would strip people’s freedoms were reframed as protecting liberty; and most memorably, how to feign concern while delaying progress and obfuscating the truth by blaming the budget.
[. . .]
I enrolled at the Harvard Kennedy School to figure out my own political philosophy derived from first principles, not political messaging.
[. . .]
I’ve made sure to let my progressive values guide my policy decisions and maintained my disdain of the Republican playbook for being long on talk and short on action.
[. . .]
If we don’t at least try, then we’re no better than the Republicans in D.C. who say they care about equal opportunity but refuse to fund the educational programs that create equal opportunity.

Councilor Cheung is correct about citizen participation, but fails to recognize that some of his Council colleagues disagree. (Leland Cheung, GUEST COMMENTARY, Cambridge Chronicle, Jan 21, 2014) They discourage citizen participation, unless they agree with the policies of the politicians. Recently the Democratic Governor of New York declared that conservatives (not Republicans) should leave his state. Cheung acknowledges that politicians deceive voters and taxpayers, without giving examples. It is not clear why he needed to enroll in Harvard's Government school to learn about politics, especially his own. Do credentials bring self awareness? He states his values guide policy decisions,and that he got some of his values from his father who is a Republican. Cheung disagrees with Republicans about funding education. Did he ever consider the idea that if the U.S. Department of Education was abolished, more taxpayer money would be available for schools and education? He does not mention the role of teachers unions (and the other seven unions with which the School Department must negotiate) in making school policies. Does the pervasive negative attitude among Harvard University toward public school graduates influence his education values and policies?

http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/x110126828/CHEUNG-COLUMN-Immediate-plan-needed-for-universal-pre-K

By Leland Cheung/GUEST COMMENTARY
Cambridge  Chronicle
Posted Jan 21, 2014 @ 02:03 PM