Over the past few decades, the United States has become infected with political partisanship. The malady makes people grouchy, uncooperative and generally unable and unwilling to work together for a common good.
The tiny borough of Freehold has not escaped this virus. Partisanship grew in the petri dish of both major parties and neither party can rightly blame the other for failing to treat the sickness. If our society can beat back this crippling disease, it will start in small towns like Freehold Borough where business, politics and life are still conducted neighbor to neighbor.
It is somewhat ironic that the man who can stop partisanship and cure the patient is its new mayor, a funeral director by trade. In that respect, Mayor Nolan Higgins is in the best position to breathe life back into the governing body of Freehold and help reduce or eradicate partisanship from public debate on serious issues.
As a lifelong conservative, I can tell you that had this “man from Virginia,” as some Freehold Democrats like to call me in print, lived in Freehold, I gladly would have voted for Nolan Higgins for mayor – irrespective of his choice of party label. I would have done that because I think he is capable of governing and leading without respect to party label.
As only the anti-communist Richard Nixon could have gone to China, only the elected mayor of Freehold Borough, a Democrat, can dismantle the political machine in the borough and restore common sense governance – neighbor to neighbor. I hope he will do so, and I will be rooting for his success.
Perhaps one day, in the cradle of Republic’s democracy, those seeking to serve on the Borough Council or as mayor will only run as independents, eschewing any alliance to party. Perhaps in a town as small as Freehold, the elected body can run on ideas, records and innovation, rather than blind party affiliation.
Before the United States won its independence from the crown, a young general attacked the rear guard of the British as it traversed across Monmouth County heading for New York, handing the Colonials our first military victory. That general, our first president, loathed political parties.
In his farewell address as president, George Washington said of the party system, “it serves always to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration. It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another, [and] foments occasionally riot and insurrection.”
Mayor Higgins should not wear the weight of a comparison to George Washington as he starts his service as mayor. However, he can lead by example, and in so doing ignite a revolution that breaks the bondage of political patronage and paves the way for citizen service, the hallmark of which is fidelity only to one’s neighbor. In this regard, I hope Mayor Higgins will see the wisdom of at least one man from Virginia.
Richard Kelsey
Ashburn, Va.
Editor’s note: The author ran as a Republican for Borough Council in Freehold Borough in 1986 at age 19. He is an assistant dean and teaches law at George Mason University in Virginia, where he resides with his wife and three children.