Dear editor,
In reviewing the candidates for the upcoming Rocky View County election, I noticed a quote on one candidate’s website by Abraham Lincoln. The quote says “a house divided cannot endure.” While the actual quote is “a house divided cannot stand,” it started me thinking.
As an American history buff, Lincoln is referring to the split on slavery. However, the quote is being used in reference to the dysfunction on the existing council. The quote is taken in in isolation however. The last few sentences of Lincoln’s speech are – “I do not expect the house to fal... but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.”
While we’d all like to believe that if we were members of the current council we would have done something differently, the question is, would we or could we? After all, the majority wins. And what if we weren't part of the majority?
If we are to accept Lincoln’s quote in its totality, what we need to ask is, which side would have endured?
It is easy to judge or question the eight councillors seeking re-election on what they did. We all have our opinions there. It is also just as easy for a new candidate to say they would have done things differently.
It is in the case of the new candidate that the question should be not what would they have done differently, but rather, which side would they have been on, or which side would they like to have seen endure?
Is it a clean sweep they are they looking for with seven new voices on council, or do they seemingly align with one side or the other? All answers are telling and we must choose wisely, as we all have to endure the next four years.
JD Donahue
Division 7
