We Aint Gettin Any Young-er

by Patrick Allen ... patrickwilliamallen@comcast.net

Well pardners, I reckon its time to mosey on down that campaign trail again. You know, that time of year when important folks get up and tell us what theyre gonna do, and the regular folks struggle to get a word in edgewise. How bout we take an unvarnished and non-partisan stroll to look at a couple of the important folks, but be sure to watch where you step. Political incest is something you might have thought we had gotten beyond some time ago, but, during every election cycle in recent memory it seems to creep back into the public discussion and onto another ballot. For decades, one Young or another, and sometimes as many Youngs as can be squeezed into the election cycle, have run for one office or another. As a voter, your first and primary obligation should be to your community and county rather than blindly to whomever your political party affiliation puts on the ballot. To simply follow the leader is to demonstrate an astonishing degree of ignorance and lack of interest. There are too many cases to cite where Republicans and Democrats have followed the party line and elected representation far less than their expectations. Brad Young. Its not clear if Brad is still a Democrat or whether he has changed to unaffiliated to match his rhetoric. Regardless, local Democrats seem to like him and pseudo endorsed Mr. Young (Banner, March 2014). Conclusion : Brad Young looks to be the sharpest knife in the family drawer, given that he keeps his head down, his powder dry, and doesnt appear to get tangled up in the never-ending Young dynasty saga that so often appears in print and online. Karen Young. Two years into her first and only elected office as a freshman politician, Mrs. Young displayed extraordinarily poor judgment in October, 2011, when she endorsed the coronation of Maryland Senate Majority Leader Robert Garagiola to be the first Democrat in twenty years to represent the newly redrawn Sixth Congressional District a full ten weeks before the Primary filing deadline when all Democratic candidates would be known. This clearly demonstrates she was doing what she was told as a well trained follower not much of a leader. Attempting to coronate a politician who was under the ethics microscope and subsequently forced to resign from office before the end of his term, tells you everything you need to know about Mrs. Young. It brings her political integrity into question. Conclusion : Mrs. Young ran for Mayor in a Democratic controlled Frederick City race and got whacked pretty good at the ballot box. Now, on the fraying coattails of the Young brand, Karen Young has decided to jump into the Maryland Delegate race and challenge a far more experienced and electable Democratic candidate in the June Primary. This move will set up an in fight within the local Democratic Party and delay Democratic resource allocations toward this Delegate race in the General. Mrs. Young is just another marionette politician in an empty suit. Ron Young. Senator Young is tainted with the same Garagiola For Congress coronation judgment blunder as his wife. But, with a sense of self-entitlement, the elder Youngs simply brush poor judgment aside and are now campaigning to carpool to Annapolis. Unfortunately, what Senator Ron Young believes he deserves and what the citizens in mid-Maryland and Frederick County require are two different things.

Conclusion : Senator, thanks for your service, but, its time to exit the stage and head to the barn. Like they say down on the farm, when a plough horse can no longer pull a straight furrow, its time to put that horse out to pasture. Senator Ron and Mrs. Ron should find a bench alongside Carroll Creek and spend their days signing autographs for tourists and feeding peanuts to pigeons. Blaine Young. Democrat, turned Republican, turned political huckster Blaine Young, who by his own admission grew up on the streets of Frederick running betting slips up and down Market Street, has morphed from cussing out a teenager at a basketball game to finding Jesus sometime around August of 2013. After ascending to Chairperson of the Frederick County State Democratic Central Committee (the Democratic brain trust for Frederick County), Blaine Young looked over the fence and saw greener, if not more profitable, pastures on the Republican side of the aisle. And to any political analysts astonishment, he took over the microphone of the right-wing and local Republicans bought into it hook, line and sinker. Most recently, hes been scooping up hundreds of thousands of dollars from unsuspecting or just downright ignorant contributors to fund his pretend gubernatorial aspirations. Now, Blaine Young isnt without some redeeming qualities, such as raising money for charities and giving money to charities. However, helping the needy is not a new political trick. Al Capone, Huey Long and other neer-do-wells have done the same thing. In a show of generosity, Mr. Young gave $20,000 to the Patty Pollatos Fund, and then appointed the PPF Director to be one of his political campaign managers. The way they swoon over one another; youd think they were family. Today, a Blaine Young campaign event looks like a revival tent run amuck. Liquor up the crowd tell them youre on a mission from God then, sit back and watch the money change hands. God is profitable right-wing politics and Mr. Young is putting God to work on his County Executive campaign. And that leads us back to Jesus. Not being one to pick on a mans religion, it just seems mighty convenient, if not suspicious, that the Lord showed up on Blaine Youngs doorstep when he did. It kind of reminds you of ole Jimmy Swaggart. Conclusion : Blaine Young does not appear to be a very intelligent person, but he does have street smarts, which he has put to good use to forward his political career and that of those who subscribe to his brand of politics. He has put together a political calculus that will garner him the Charter Government County Executive position unless Democrats, Republicans and Unaffiliated registered voters say enough is enough at the ballot box. Summary. These are not the days of the old Wild West, when a town or countys identity was determined by a family name and dynasty. Frederick County yearns to become a vibrant contributor to the prosperity of mid-Maryland. To accomplish this feat, voters in Frederick County must elect fresh voices with new ideas, both local and for export to Annapolis. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Send Comments and Feedback to : patrickwilliamallen@comcast.net