Below is my column in today's issue of the Grand Haven Tribune.
Unfortunately, that changes at the county level in Ottawa County. Those elections are partisan, which means that each party can run a candidate for office. In the 2020 election, nine of the 11 commissioner nominees ran unopposed as candidates from the Republican Party. In District 3 (city of Holland wards 1, 2, 3 and 6, Ward 4 Precinct 3), the Democratic candidate, Doug Zylstra won by a margin of 10.8 percent, or 1,171 votes. In the only other contested district, District 6 (about half of Georgetown Township), the Republican candidate won by a 3-1 margin.
I raise this reality because local politics are shifting in ways that will not only affect the Republican Party in Ottawa County, but will have an impact upon the entire county because those candidates who win the primary race on Aug. 2 will almost certainly win in the general election on Nov. 8.
A local political action committee called Ottawa Impact is running their own candidates in eight of the 11 districts of our county. They are putting money and energy behind candidates who support their ideals.
It’s probably no surprise to most of you that I’m a definite left-leaning progressive when it comes to my own political views. However, I’m deeply concerned about the goals of Ottawa Impact – and I imagine many Republicans would be concerned about their goals as well. On their website, they state that, “The mission of Ottawa Impact is to preserve and protect the individual rights of the people in Ottawa County.”
They enumerate their understanding of the threats to these rights as follows: “We are committed to defending the constitutionally protected rights of parents to make health and education decisions for their own children. We recognize our nation’s Judeo-Christian heritage and celebrate America as an exceptional nation blessed by God. We oppose indoctrination of our county’s youth and the politicization of public schools. We believe civic engagement, ground up, is critical to preserve a healthy, moral society. We seek to educate, encourage, and support local leaders who fight to preserve Ottawa’s values and work to eliminate policies which oppose them.”
They then close by insisting their passion is “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness!” However, I believe the goals of Ottawa Impact are fundamentally opposed to the ideals of freedom in our country and also to the values of the people of Ottawa County. Let me explain.
There has been a consistent misunderstanding of the nature of freedom on the far right of our country for the past several years. People want freedom to do what they want, without restriction – but also freedom to insist other people follow their own far-right values.
One of the reasons these candidates are running is Ottawa Impact’s opposition to the fact that the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners did not fire the leadership of the Ottawa County Department of Public Health or change the health department’s guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it would have been illegal for the Board of Commissioners to interfere with the health department.
Furthermore, under the “freedom” this group believes in, people should be allowed to drive drunk, ignore seatbelt laws, and the health department should not require cooks in kitchens do things like wash their hands after touching raw chicken. The reason people do not have freedom to do those things is because that sort of an exercise of freedom would put the safety of others at risk.
You absolutely have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – until your exercise of that right takes it from someone else. So, you do not have the right to drive drunk or ignore seatbelt laws. You do not have the right to say you will simply follow dietary guidelines in the Bible and ignore health department rules. The reason you do not have those rights is because following them would pose a threat of harm to others.
Furthermore, for more than two years, people associated with Ottawa Impact have been harassing our school board, demanding the banning of books they deem inappropriate, or at least the restriction of those books and insisting they require parental consent. Once more, this is not about the freedom to make education decisions for your children, because they can already do that. Parents already have the ability to see what their kids check out. No, these parents want their values to control what all kids have access to. That’s not freedom – that’s religious activism seeking to control the parental rights of all families, no matter whether or not you agree with them.
They say that they recognize the Judeo-Christian heritage of our nation, mistaking the reality that the majority of our Founding Fathers were actually religious rationalists, deists, or unitarians – none of which would be recognized as Christians by modern evangelicals. They say they opposed “indoctrination,” but if you read the flier from the candidate they are running here in the district of which Grand Haven is a part, that means they are opposed to: “Marxist teachings of CRT/DEI.” I’m guessing that means she wants the writings of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. removed from our schools.
And the idea that believing in “diversity, equity and inclusion” makes you a Marxist is flabbergasting. I always thought believing in diversity, equity and inclusion just made you a good human being.
Ottawa County is one of the best counties in the entire state of Michigan. If you look at our statistics, we are going by a healthy clip, our county departments function well, and most other county boards of commissioners consistently hold up our county as one of the best-run. As much as I might disagree with many of the Republican commissioners on national partisan questions, there is no denying the excellent job they do for our county.
Every citizen of Ottawa County, no matter your party affiliation, should look very carefully at the candidates who are seeking to control the place we live. Our county motto is “Where you belong,” and I hope our county can continue to be a place where everyone can thrive, where we try to cast down barriers to equity and inclusion to have a truly diverse community, where we support public servants who work to serve the common good – not just the views of a fringe minority.
Pay attention in these next few months and get involved. The future of our county is at stake. And make no mistake: Their next target will be the school board, too.
About the writer: The Rev. Dr. Jared C. Cramer, Tribune community columnist, serves as rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven. Information about his parish can be found at www.sjegh.com. The views expressed in this column are those of Father Cramer as a private citizen and do not reflect the views of his congregation or church.
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