I’ve known great Democrat and Republican leaders in Montgomery County. I’ve even voted for and supported some great Democrats who helped MoCo thrive. And here, in past years, folks would often vote in good Republicans, and we had some great ones.

Jim Gleason was our first elected County Executive, Connie Morella, Gilbert Gude, Newton Steers were great Congressmembers, Betty Ann Krahnke, Nancy Dacek and Howard Denis were effective County Council Members, and Stephen Abrams was a City Council and School Board Member…all Republicans, here are some pix

It made good sense, they were always the minority, but you always knew there was diversity of viewpoint, someone to watch the majority party carefully, and with a chair at the table, the ability to call into question any bone-headed idea that might come up. We’ve lost that. Most votes in MoCo and Annapolis are now 100% Democrat. Maybe we don’t need a fox watching the hen house, but maybe a few Republican guard dogs would be in order to make sure your money’s spent well, your rights aren’t diluted and your taxes aren't raised through the roof.

Yep, I recognize MoCo and Maryland are not majority Republican, they never have been. I remember that before the Civil War, we were a Democrat run slave state, that only stayed in the Union because the Army was in DC- on old MoCo land! But even as the minority party we have a substantial reason to want to participate in making MoCo great. It would take a Republican to say:

• Don’t buy million dollar electric buses that don’t work in winter.
• Don’t put lots of empty Ride On buses on the roads next to empty bike lanes.
• Don’t raise taxes to funnel money into a glut of public school administrative staff while schools are serving fewer students - and the ones we have poorly, keeping them less safe, and not teaching them STEM and patriotism.
• Keep boys out of girls sports and girls bathrooms.

We need some normal folks with common sense. True diversity means diversity of thought. Look at our great candidates, vote for the best, not the most red or blue, but the best. That’s the way we’ll get back on track, pull our country back together and enjoy the better quality of life that we had in MoCo before single party government was the norm.

Read this editorial I wrote in Bethesda Magazine about Ending One Party Rule and tell me what you think.

Tell me what issues we should address, what diversity really means and how you feel about single party government. Write to me at [email protected]

Dennis Melby