Fecteau: Democrats’ Dystopia

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Matt Fecteau, GoLocalWorcester Guest MINDSETTER™

For such a blue state, Rhode Island should be a standard-bearer of Democratic values. Rhode Island ought to be a place where everyone should be proud to call their home, an oasis awash with liberal values where everyone has a voice. That is the Democratic ideal, isn’t it? Oh, how far we’ve fallen from that mark.

We have a state that is barely surviving. The taxes on the working poor and middle class are ungodly high. Income inequality has spiraled out of control. Each year, more people leave in hopes of finding a better life elsewhere. Rhode Island has become the embodiment of a modern-day dystopia; all under the Democratic banner. Is this something the Democratic leadership is proud of?

All the while, the Rhode Island Democratic establishment feeds us hollow talking points. Those are all members of the Democratic establishment such as Democratic Chairman Joe McNamara have; empty rhetoric designed to placate the masses, rather than any substantive ideas to resuscitate our failed state; the exception being McNamara’s marvelous idea to make calamari Rhode Island’s official state appetizer; brilliant Joe (sarcasm).

In turn, we have a party shedding people each year. Rhode Island is a predominantly independent electorate state for a reason. Some have left the party because of the corruption, others for incompetence, and some for cronyism on prominent display when each scandalous headline unfolds in the press.

To those that have abandoned our party, I say, I understand more than you know. These constant scandals make all Democrats look bad, including yours truly. The lack of any substantive plan to bring our state back in line with the rest of the industrialized country is disgraceful and embarrassing.

We need feel ideas, not institutional nonsense. When I say ideas, I mean something that will actually make our state more competitive, a better place to live, not some nominal piece of crap legislation with the prominent establishment rubberstamp imprinted on it.

There is something very wrong within the Rhode Island Democratic Party. The party is more interested in supporting its own establishment, yet corrupt, inept candidates than supporting reform minded Democrats. The Rhode Island Democratic Party pays homage to the middle class and working poor, but this just a complete façade. If you are not in their designated circle, they will destroy you.

I am a Democrat and will always be a proud Democrat, but that doesn’t mean I have to support the Rhode Island Democratic platform or its candidates. While talking to my neighbors and friends, they let me know how fed up they were with the Democrats and their solutions for the problems plaguing our state.

To the Democratic leadership, if you ever wonder why our state is in such a mess, look into the mirror; I blame people like you that have solved nothing, and done nothing for decades.

To the voters, I say, vote them out; vote them all out, tear the establishment down and start over again. They do not care about you, and no matter how much they tell you they do, ask yourselves: when was the last time they showed up at your door outside of election season?

Matt Fecteau ([email protected]) of Pawtucket, Rhode Island lost to state Senator Jamie Doyle in 2016’s Democratic primary. He is a former White House national security intern and Iraq war veteran.