LETTER: Insurgents group use children as pawns in power grab

In his farewell address, George Washington presciently warned our new nation that it needed to safeguard the foundation of its real independence—unity of citizenship—and to beware the polarization of political parties that would inevitably seek to weaken it. As a nation that lionizes its founding, we should be very much troubled that we have forgotten this critical lesson.

Recently, both the Republican Party of Ozaukee County and the Rebecca Kleefisch gubernatorial campaign stepped out of the shadows to announce their backing of the four candidates brought forth by a group in Mequon seeking to hijack the Mequon-Thiensville School Board with a previously little-used mechanism whose intent is to combat malfeasance.

 This action brings into focus what had previously been a whisper. The recall was never about concerned parents concentrating on local academic issues; it was really part of a larger national partisan movement to exert power over what had always rightly been nonpartisan positions in local government.

Most local elections in this country are nonpartisan for excellent reasons. Keeping political parties out of these elections is essential to minimizing corruption in local government, enabling it to be nimble and responsive, and to maximize the cooperation that keeps critical services running for its constituents.

Putting aside the moral repugnance of using our children and the bedrock of their future as pawns in this naked power grab, allowing political parties and their partisanship to infiltrate every aspect of American government, and American life, will crumble the unity of citizenship. This will only result in paralyzed institutions unable to adjust to a changing world, leaving our global adversaries nodding knowingly as the United States of America fades into a chapter of a history book.

Chad Winterfield
Mequon