I found a couple things to like about Ms Turck's letter in today's Killeen Daily Herald "Letters to the Editor" section. I can't find a link, so I'll quote from it here.
"Our polarized politics," she says, "is disrespectful. Lies, half-lies and omissions ... are disrespectful." Our local elections have been remarkably free of this kind of discourse. Of course, our local elections have been remarkably free of content, so far. There was some divisive rhetoric during the recall last year. I think I can point out some statements that Glenda might have been thinking of in the public comments of Mayor Hancock, Councilman Workman, Jonathan Okray, Councilman Wells and Dan Corbin.
I can't follow Ms Turck to her conclusion. She calls the spewers of lies, half-lies and omissions "opponents of democracy". I call them people pursuing their own agendas. We do have a sort of democracy in Killeen (although it's getting too big for one), and its main virtue is that it allows people to pursue their agendas. The people looking on, and voting, have the responsibility of filtering the rhetoric, sorting out the half-truths, and filling in the omissions.
I think we did pretty well in the recall election in this regard. If Ms Turck is suggesting that Killeen voters are in some way incapable of recognizing the kind of behavior she calls out, I think that suggestion is itself disrespectful.
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