The citizens' initiative for charter change has launched a website to explain what is being proposed and why. That website can be found here. It is very informative, and it is recommended reading.
I applaud the effort. I have not taken a position on the proposal, but do have feelings about the process.
I want to highlight that we are caught in a very ordinary kind of polarization. And that both of the following things can be true: Changes to the charter can improve how the city delivers. Referendums are a form of direct democracy that can have toxic side effects.
For this reason, I want to say I think it’s a mistake for the Mayor and the Common Council President to not have engaged with this initiative. I encourage them to do so. What is their to fear from discussion?
And, I ask the citizen activists to be more precise with, either their language, or their plan. On the home, they claim their intent is to “build consensus through referendum.”
This is dishonest. This is not a subjective matter. Referendums are decision-making tools, not consensus-building mechanisms.
Citizens assemblies are consensus building mechanisms, because they are deliberative - they create the conditions for the dialogue the produces consensus.
Referendums are decision-making tools, because they make the preferences of the majority visible - and often have negative impacts on relationships and social cohesion,
There is a lot of literature on this, and on ways deliberative democracy and referendums can work together to produce better outcomes.
I would love it if this group were to develop a plan for building consensus around charter revision. Or, be more precise in their language as they engage with us about the process.
And, of course, if consensus building is what you are interested, I am as ready as ever to collaborate.
This is very complex. But this is also very simple.
🏫 Many residents want a city that works. They want an apolitical executive to get the job done.
💙 We have families to love, lives to live, companies to build, we don't want to both pay taxes and keep an eye on local government mismanagement. There is enough of that at a federal and state level, don't you think?
💡 This group put forward a simple idea: Politicized Mayor → Apolitical City Manager.
It is a data driven idea that is growing across America. See Ithaca, and all the other evidence points on that FAQ site.
Normally I am all for "consensus-building" via deliberation, your muse… but let's look at the evidence:
1. Has Mayor Kamal picked up your idea for a Citizen Assembly and run with it?
2. The City is currently spending $200k on a "comprehensive plan" Survey Monkey exercise with a NYC based firm that is not statistically significant, deeply flawed, and can't be used.
3. Mayor Kamal and CC President DePietro responded to this perfectly lawful and reasonable proposal by publicly equating it to the January 6th capital riot [ "#whatinthejanuary6th" ], and calling the organizers "dissolute", and then correcting it to "disgruntled". Why not just go all in and call the majority, your taxpayers, "a basket of deplorables" a la 2016 zeitgeist.
4. When residents speak up and make reasonable points they are tarred and feathered as racists, republicans, or worst of all sins; "non-resident".
5. City Hall meetings either have near zero attendance where the council outnumber the residents, or you have an astro-turf situation where the mayor and common council president stack the room with… wait for it… mostly non-residents from surrounding towns, Albany, and Manhattan, and bulldoze speech. This apathy and anarchy is regrettable but an outgrowth of a decade of politics and special interests.
7. Most recently Common Council President DePietro selectively published public letters (i.e. suppressed and censured dissent) to the council in the government maintained forum (a First Amendment violation, that he then only walked back only after I sent him and the CC lawyer a legal opinion from the NYS assembly).
7. He has now stopped publishing public commentary without articulating why. Who knows what are in all those suppressed letters to our elected officials?
Bob and the very fast growing and diverse team will update that website, grow the movement and respond to questions.
⁉️ Where can I read from our elected officials who we pay to serve us what they think of the Charter Reform idea? Or what the plan is for the near $1m budget deficit?
On #2 - Two Phds in statistics and one firm who specializes in auditing surveys for integrity and p-hacking.
If you want to share with me your email I can distribute the draft academic paper that will be published demonstrating the flawed statistical methods.
On #3 when I wrote "majority" I referred to the majority of Hudson residents who did not vote for Tom or Kamal in the last uncontested election. ***
- 35% of voters who entered the booth, when given the choice between voting for DePietro, or not voting at all, did not vote. And roughly 2 in 3 voters did not go to the polls at all. - If Hudson has 4000 residents who could theoretically vote, then only 1 in 4 voted for DePietro.
Winning uncontested elections, without a competing political party, is hardly evidence of a mandate.
Compare this to Margaret Morris in the first ward... where 82% of those entering the polling booth voted for her. A higher number than Purnhagen or Cousins.
Purnhagen works in local public-private government and Cousins was/is a career politician.
On #5 - resident apathy is everyone's concern.
And we can agree that consultants are not the ideal solution in such a small town.
📰 *** From Gossips Archives "Wednesday, November 8, 2023":
"In Hudson, where there were only Democrats running and no contested races, except in the Third Ward, it is interesting to note how many voters went to the polls and chose not to vote for the candidates on the ballot. A total of 1,409 ballots were cast in Hudson. Kamal Johnson, seeking his third term as mayor, received 951 votes; Heather Campbell, who has been city treasurer since 2014, received 1,045 votes; and Tom DePietro, seeking his fourth term as Common Council president, received 916 votes. About a third of the voters who went to the polls chose not to vote for Johnson and DePietro, and about a quarter of those who voted did not vote for Campbell."
And Peter, I totally agree with you on this sentiment:
"For this reason, I want to say I think it’s a mistake for the Mayor and the Common Council President to not have engaged with this initiative. I encourage them to do so. What is their to fear from discussion?"
⏱️ But then why not start now? What is mayor Kamal doing between now and Friday that stops him from writing an essay that explains the data and reasoning that supports the status quo?
And just to complete my numbered list here for the record to demonstrate why some residents may not be excited for another public meeting:
8. The Common Council President physically assaulted a resident from behind at previous deliberative meeting on taxes. It was on video.
9. Just a few weeks ago a young man berated common council member Dominic Merante _after_ the vote on rent control for recusing himself on ethical principles. The young man yelled at the elected official that he should resign based on age, and made some bizarre argument about driver's licenses. It was on video.
10. Residents' cars are being vandalized in a targeted fashion. It is on video.
11. A resident of Hudson threw dog feces at the previous mayor during a public meeting on budgets. You and others told me, it was before my time. Is there video?
So…. I respect you Peter. And I think your suggestion and overture here for a Citizen Assembly is sincere and kind.
But see numbers 1-11 to appreciate the perspective of some residents who have exhausted most other remedies, and are now leveraging the most democratic means available to them; a referendum.
A referendum to achieve a more democratic system.*
** Each council member has an equal voice in policy development and administrative oversight, giving diverse groups and neighborhoods a greater opportunity to influence policy.
This structure diffuses the power of special interests by requiring majority support from the council rather than allowing a single elected official to be influenced.
You are right that almost nothing can be truly "apolitical", just like one might argue that all points of view carry an embedded moral value or judgement.
Happy to geek out on categorical imperatives, Hobbesian moral philosophy as it relates to altruism, and Richard Dawkins' view on the "selfish gene".
💡But we do not have to, sir.
All we have to know is that the mayor belongs to a political party.
🗳️ He has to politick to win elections. He has to make promises and then try to keep them. This is how Hudson ended up with an almost $1m budget deficit this year.
🫏 The mayor usually runs on a "ticket" and/or must win a primary within his party. In the case of Hudson, the City of Hudson Democratic Committee (on which CC President Tom DePietro's wife, curiously, serves, if I am not mistaken).
So he has to barter and keep up with those guys, as well as with the Columbia County Dems (shout out to Sam Hodge, please come weigh in on this fiasco that is damaging the Dems brand). He has to keep up with the infamous politics of Albany and the NYS assembly, let's not forget the politics and coordination of the Columbia County Supervisors. Arguably the least political of the aforementioned groups.
💰 Ultimately, the mayor, any mayor, wants to get re-elected to keep their job and put food on the table.
🏛️ In Kamal's case, he also wants to burnish his reputation and build a track record (using our tax dollars) to run for state office (as evidence by his own statements to the press).
🤡 So we should not be surprised then if he does not balance the budget or disregard the voters who cannot help him achieve his personal long-term goals. He just wants/needs to win elections.
💪 Contrast that to a City Manager, a professional executive:
- No one will ask City Manager candidates what their political party affiliation might be, it could actually be illegal - To a City Manager all residents are equal; whether they vote or not, if they are illegal immigrants or Mayflower refugees, own the biggest home, rent, or live in public housing, if they are 3, 30 or 90 years old. - The City Manager job is A) Budget Management B) Service Delivery C) Project Completion and D) City Hall employee performance and retention…. or whatever the democratically (small d) elected council decides. - If politicians care about blue vs. red, popular vs. unpopular… then City Managers care about profit vs. loss, and done vs. not done.
---
🙋♂️ @ Some Guy - please share with us how you think the City of Hudson can be better?
What do you think, having worked for a City Manager in some undisclosed town, is the difference between a great City Manager and less great one?
David, I am wondering what discourse you are referring to here. I see one side currently entirely unwilling to engage in discourse.
When the mayor, on Dec 2, posts on FB about the initiative tagging it "#whatinthejanuary06", I would argue that that is more likely to have come out of a Joseph Goebbels playbook than one that is prescribing constructive discourse with the other side.
Hmmm... with all respect Tassilo... I wouldn't jump to Godwin's Law (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law) in response to David's skepticism.
David - I get your skepticism... it is 2024 in America... most parts of society is so politicized...
The broader point here, I believe, is to seek out those who aspire to be apolitical City Managers.
No one is perfect... but we go to doctors for healthcare, lawyers for legal advice etc. let's go to public administrators to administer public functions.
Career politicians are not professional City Managers. Especially ones who are mid-career and unsuccessful.
Maybe if you commuted between Hudson and New Zealand, or Hudson and Singapore or the Benelux countries, you may not be as skeptical of apolitical public servants as your commute between Hudson and San Francisco may have made you... two cities famously undermined by political fiefdoms and grandstanding.
David, sincerely, do you have a better idea than a City Manager to make Hudson work more efficiently and be less political?
David -- of course, nothing is apolitical. But a CM who has purposefully earned one of the requisite advanced degrees and then gained the requisite experience required by the amended charter, and who is divorced from policy decision making is, inherently, less political than a politician. I believe that's what is meant by FNI's use of "apolitical."
And Tassilo, as you know, there is a great deal of discourse going on about this initiative. And, as you also know, what's troubling about the discourse is that neither of our elected leaders -- the mayor and council president -- is engaging in anything resembling meaningful conversation. Having refused to meet with the group of Hudson citizens who are neither children nor raving, having refused to read or comment on our research or results, they both stoop to childish rhetoric which only diminishes themselves.
There is nothing radical or overtly political (all things having some political element) about the proposed charter amendment. What those who read the petition and its changes will learn is that, besides the 100 or so words dealing with the size of the council and term limits, all the amendment amounts to is mostly changing "mayor" to "city manager" where operational matters are concerned. Otherwise, there's still a mayor, still a council and they are still elected by the voters. There's still a council president, but she or he is elected by the council from its own members -- in other words, a chairperson. That's it.
FNI, I am totally aware of Goodwin's law. Not every reference to events from that era trigger it though.
I do think it is fair to call out bad actors when they liken the people behind this initiative to a rioting mob that attempted to violently usurp the Capitol on January 6.
John pointed out correctly that some amount of discourse is happening currently. Unfortunately, it's not by those who should be taking part in it. They so far have limited themselves to hyperbolic name calling.
I sure hate when people act hyperbolic instead of rationally discussing something, also Tassilo you comparing your opponents Facebook post to Nazis makes you Stalin. No you go again! Productive discourse!
Henry, my hyperboles always serve a purpose. I still want an elaboration from the mayor on which specific members of this charter initiative in his mind conjured up the image of a January 6 rioter.
Until that happens, common polity remains suspended.
Let’s be honest. The professional politicians ie elders have profited nicely from the hustle while the community enjoys crumbs. Very small puddle of mud Hudson is. A monumental change will never be embraced by the phony mob bosses actually pulling the puppet strings. Look behind the political curtain and you will find the puppet masters.
Let’s be honest”….what a beginning to a very cynical, cowardly post. Your play on Mike Bucci is cowardly and misplaced. To infer he achieved what he has achieved through the machinations of “puppet masters “ is laughable. Mike worked and continues to work hard to achieve the level of success he has reached. Everyone wants “the view” but very few are willing to make “the climb”. I would also challenge you to find a person that has done more for the community. If you are truly committed “to be honest” I suggest you look inward for the shortcomings in your life rather than make cowardly attacks on hard working people.
1: having no interest or involvement in political affairs also: having an aversion to politics or political affairs 2: having no political significance
💭 In a sentence: "Although both of her parents are politicians, she's completely apolitical."
I applaud the effort.
ReplyDeleteI have not taken a position on the proposal, but do have feelings about the process.
I want to highlight that we are caught in a very ordinary kind of polarization.
And that both of the following things can be true:
Changes to the charter can improve how the city delivers.
Referendums are a form of direct democracy that can have toxic side effects.
For this reason, I want to say I think it’s a mistake for the Mayor and the Common Council President to not have engaged with this initiative. I encourage them to do so. What is their to fear from discussion?
And, I ask the citizen activists to be more precise with, either their language, or their plan. On the home, they claim their intent is to “build consensus through referendum.”
This is dishonest.
This is not a subjective matter.
Referendums are decision-making tools, not consensus-building mechanisms.
Citizens assemblies are consensus building mechanisms, because they are deliberative - they create the conditions for the dialogue the produces consensus.
Referendums are decision-making tools, because they make the preferences of the majority visible - and often have negative impacts on relationships and social cohesion,
There is a lot of literature on this, and on ways deliberative democracy and referendums can work together to produce better outcomes.
I would love it if this group were to develop a plan for building consensus around charter revision. Or, be more precise in their language as they engage with us about the process.
And, of course, if consensus building is what you are interested, I am as ready as ever to collaborate.
Dear sir -
ReplyDeleteThis is very complex. But this is also very simple.
🏫 Many residents want a city that works. They want an apolitical executive to get the job done.
💙 We have families to love, lives to live, companies to build, we don't want to both pay taxes and keep an eye on local government mismanagement. There is enough of that at a federal and state level, don't you think?
💡 This group put forward a simple idea: Politicized Mayor → Apolitical City Manager.
It is a data driven idea that is growing across America. See Ithaca, and all the other evidence points on that FAQ site.
Normally I am all for "consensus-building" via deliberation, your muse… but let's look at the evidence:
1. Has Mayor Kamal picked up your idea for a Citizen Assembly and run with it?
2. The City is currently spending $200k on a "comprehensive plan" Survey Monkey exercise with a NYC based firm that is not statistically significant, deeply flawed, and can't be used.
3. Mayor Kamal and CC President DePietro responded to this perfectly lawful and reasonable proposal by publicly equating it to the January 6th capital riot [ "#whatinthejanuary6th" ], and calling the organizers "dissolute", and then correcting it to "disgruntled". Why not just go all in and call the majority, your taxpayers, "a basket of deplorables" a la 2016 zeitgeist.
4. When residents speak up and make reasonable points they are tarred and feathered as racists, republicans, or worst of all sins; "non-resident".
5. City Hall meetings either have near zero attendance where the council outnumber the residents, or you have an astro-turf situation where the mayor and common council president stack the room with… wait for it… mostly non-residents from surrounding towns, Albany, and Manhattan, and bulldoze speech. This apathy and anarchy is regrettable but an outgrowth of a decade of politics and special interests.
7. Most recently Common Council President DePietro selectively published public letters (i.e. suppressed and censured dissent) to the council in the government maintained forum (a First Amendment violation, that he then only walked back only after I sent him and the CC lawyer a legal opinion from the NYS assembly).
7. He has now stopped publishing public commentary without articulating why. Who knows what are in all those suppressed letters to our elected officials?
Bob and the very fast growing and diverse team will update that website, grow the movement and respond to questions.
⁉️ Where can I read from our elected officials who we pay to serve us what they think of the Charter Reform idea? Or what the plan is for the near $1m budget deficit?
On #2 - Two Phds in statistics and one firm who specializes in auditing surveys for integrity and p-hacking.
DeleteIf you want to share with me your email I can distribute the draft academic paper that will be published demonstrating the flawed statistical methods.
On #3 when I wrote "majority" I referred to the majority of Hudson residents who did not vote for Tom or Kamal in the last uncontested election. ***
- 35% of voters who entered the booth, when given the choice between voting for DePietro, or not voting at all, did not vote. And roughly 2 in 3 voters did not go to the polls at all.
- If Hudson has 4000 residents who could theoretically vote, then only 1 in 4 voted for DePietro.
Winning uncontested elections, without a competing political party, is hardly evidence of a mandate.
Compare this to Margaret Morris in the first ward... where 82% of those entering the polling booth voted for her. A higher number than Purnhagen or Cousins.
Purnhagen works in local public-private government and Cousins was/is a career politician.
On #5 - resident apathy is everyone's concern.
And we can agree that consultants are not the ideal solution in such a small town.
📰 *** From Gossips Archives "Wednesday, November 8, 2023":
"In Hudson, where there were only Democrats running and no contested races, except in the Third Ward, it is interesting to note how many voters went to the polls and chose not to vote for the candidates on the ballot. A total of 1,409 ballots were cast in Hudson. Kamal Johnson, seeking his third term as mayor, received 951 votes; Heather Campbell, who has been city treasurer since 2014, received 1,045 votes; and Tom DePietro, seeking his fourth term as Common Council president, received 916 votes. About a third of the voters who went to the polls chose not to vote for Johnson and DePietro, and about a quarter of those who voted did not vote for Campbell."
And Peter, I totally agree with you on this sentiment:
ReplyDelete"For this reason, I want to say I think it’s a mistake for the Mayor and the Common Council President to not have engaged with this initiative. I encourage them to do so. What is their to fear from discussion?"
⏱️ But then why not start now? What is mayor Kamal doing between now and Friday that stops him from writing an essay that explains the data and reasoning that supports the status quo?
And just to complete my numbered list here for the record to demonstrate why some residents may not be excited for another public meeting:
8. The Common Council President physically assaulted a resident from behind at previous deliberative meeting on taxes. It was on video.
9. Just a few weeks ago a young man berated common council member Dominic Merante _after_ the vote on rent control for recusing himself on ethical principles. The young man yelled at the elected official that he should resign based on age, and made some bizarre argument about driver's licenses. It was on video.
10. Residents' cars are being vandalized in a targeted fashion. It is on video.
11. A resident of Hudson threw dog feces at the previous mayor during a public meeting on budgets. You and others told me, it was before my time. Is there video?
So…. I respect you Peter. And I think your suggestion and overture here for a Citizen Assembly is sincere and kind.
But see numbers 1-11 to appreciate the perspective of some residents who have exhausted most other remedies, and are now leveraging the most democratic means available to them; a referendum.
A referendum to achieve a more democratic system.*
** Each council member has an equal voice in policy development and administrative oversight, giving diverse groups and neighborhoods a greater opportunity to influence policy.
This structure diffuses the power of special interests by requiring majority support from the council rather than allowing a single elected official to be influenced.
Dear Some Guy -
ReplyDeleteYou are right that almost nothing can be truly "apolitical", just like one might argue that all points of view carry an embedded moral value or judgement.
Happy to geek out on categorical imperatives, Hobbesian moral philosophy as it relates to altruism, and Richard Dawkins' view on the "selfish gene".
💡But we do not have to, sir.
All we have to know is that the mayor belongs to a political party.
🗳️ He has to politick to win elections. He has to make promises and then try to keep them. This is how Hudson ended up with an almost $1m budget deficit this year.
🫏 The mayor usually runs on a "ticket" and/or must win a primary within his party. In the case of Hudson, the City of Hudson Democratic Committee (on which CC President Tom DePietro's wife, curiously, serves, if I am not mistaken).
So he has to barter and keep up with those guys, as well as with the Columbia County Dems (shout out to Sam Hodge, please come weigh in on this fiasco that is damaging the Dems brand). He has to keep up with the infamous politics of Albany and the NYS assembly, let's not forget the politics and coordination of the Columbia County Supervisors. Arguably the least political of the aforementioned groups.
💰 Ultimately, the mayor, any mayor, wants to get re-elected to keep their job and put food on the table.
🏛️ In Kamal's case, he also wants to burnish his reputation and build a track record (using our tax dollars) to run for state office (as evidence by his own statements to the press).
🤡 So we should not be surprised then if he does not balance the budget or disregard the voters who cannot help him achieve his personal long-term goals. He just wants/needs to win elections.
💪 Contrast that to a City Manager, a professional executive:
- No one will ask City Manager candidates what their political party affiliation might be, it could actually be illegal
- To a City Manager all residents are equal; whether they vote or not, if they are illegal immigrants or Mayflower refugees, own the biggest home, rent, or live in public housing, if they are 3, 30 or 90 years old.
- The City Manager job is A) Budget Management B) Service Delivery C) Project Completion and D) City Hall employee performance and retention…. or whatever the democratically (small d) elected council decides.
- If politicians care about blue vs. red, popular vs. unpopular… then City Managers care about profit vs. loss, and done vs. not done.
---
🙋♂️ @ Some Guy - please share with us how you think the City of Hudson can be better?
What do you think, having worked for a City Manager in some undisclosed town, is the difference between a great City Manager and less great one?
The talisman of an apolitical executive is as naive as it is silly, and it's severely diminishing the discourse.
DeleteDavid, I am wondering what discourse you are referring to here. I see one side currently entirely unwilling to engage in discourse.
DeleteWhen the mayor, on Dec 2, posts on FB about the initiative tagging it "#whatinthejanuary06", I would argue that that is more likely to have come out of a Joseph Goebbels playbook than one that is prescribing constructive discourse with the other side.
Hmmm... with all respect Tassilo... I wouldn't jump to Godwin's Law (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law) in response to David's skepticism.
DeleteDavid - I get your skepticism... it is 2024 in America... most parts of society is so politicized...
The broader point here, I believe, is to seek out those who aspire to be apolitical City Managers.
No one is perfect... but we go to doctors for healthcare, lawyers for legal advice etc. let's go to public administrators to administer public functions.
Career politicians are not professional City Managers. Especially ones who are mid-career and unsuccessful.
Maybe if you commuted between Hudson and New Zealand, or Hudson and Singapore or the Benelux countries, you may not be as skeptical of apolitical public servants as your commute between Hudson and San Francisco may have made you... two cities famously undermined by political fiefdoms and grandstanding.
David, sincerely, do you have a better idea than a City Manager to make Hudson work more efficiently and be less political?
David -- of course, nothing is apolitical. But a CM who has purposefully earned one of the requisite advanced degrees and then gained the requisite experience required by the amended charter, and who is divorced from policy decision making is, inherently, less political than a politician. I believe that's what is meant by FNI's use of "apolitical."
DeleteAnd Tassilo, as you know, there is a great deal of discourse going on about this initiative. And, as you also know, what's troubling about the discourse is that neither of our elected leaders -- the mayor and council president -- is engaging in anything resembling meaningful conversation. Having refused to meet with the group of Hudson citizens who are neither children nor raving, having refused to read or comment on our research or results, they both stoop to childish rhetoric which only diminishes themselves.
There is nothing radical or overtly political (all things having some political element) about the proposed charter amendment. What those who read the petition and its changes will learn is that, besides the 100 or so words dealing with the size of the council and term limits, all the amendment amounts to is mostly changing "mayor" to "city manager" where operational matters are concerned. Otherwise, there's still a mayor, still a council and they are still elected by the voters. There's still a council president, but she or he is elected by the council from its own members -- in other words, a chairperson. That's it.
FNI, I am totally aware of Goodwin's law. Not every reference to events from that era trigger it though.
DeleteI do think it is fair to call out bad actors when they liken the people behind this initiative to a rioting mob that attempted to violently usurp the Capitol on January 6.
John pointed out correctly that some amount of discourse is happening currently. Unfortunately, it's not by those who should be taking part in it. They so far have limited themselves to hyperbolic name calling.
I sure hate when people act hyperbolic instead of rationally discussing something, also Tassilo you comparing your opponents Facebook post to Nazis makes you Stalin. No you go again! Productive discourse!
DeleteHenry, my hyperboles always serve a purpose. I still want an elaboration from the mayor on which specific members of this charter initiative in his mind conjured up the image of a January 6 rioter.
DeleteUntil that happens, common polity remains suspended.
Let’s be honest. The professional politicians ie elders have profited nicely from the hustle while the community enjoys crumbs. Very small puddle of mud Hudson is. A monumental change will never be embraced by the phony mob bosses actually pulling the puppet strings. Look behind the political curtain and you will find the puppet masters.
ReplyDeleteLet’s be honest”….what a beginning to a very cynical, cowardly post.
ReplyDeleteYour play on Mike Bucci is cowardly and misplaced. To infer he achieved what he has achieved through the machinations of “puppet masters “ is laughable. Mike worked and continues to work hard to achieve the level of success he has reached. Everyone wants “the view” but very few are willing to make “the climb”.
I would also challenge you to find a person that has done more for the community.
If you are truly committed “to be honest” I suggest you look inward for the shortcomings in your life rather than make cowardly attacks on hard working people.
📖 Merriam Webster:
ReplyDeleteapo·lit·i·calˌ ā-pə-ˈli-ti-kəl
1: having no interest or involvement in political affairs
also: having an aversion to politics or political affairs
2: having no political significance
💭 In a sentence:
"Although both of her parents are politicians, she's completely apolitical."