06-17-2009, 03:22 AM
It's a continuation of Plantation Politics. Top down. The established powers here control jobs. Union and others. There is a strong memory here from the Plantation days that if you don't vote as instructed you or a member of your family may be punished. So to a large degree the local base falls in line.
What is different now is a large percentage of the population did not grow up in this established way of running things. More independent. But unless these independents get together, get informed and actually turn out to vote the Good Old Boys still hold sway.
The proven method of keeping the independents un-unified is to find an issue and get them arguing about it. Maybe the Puna Community Development Plan (PCDP), maybe Puna Makai Alternate Route (PMAR) maybe banning cheap plastic bags. So far this has been successful BUT the margin of victory has gotten smaller and smaller for them.
So what will happen in 2010? It's really up to you.
What is different now is a large percentage of the population did not grow up in this established way of running things. More independent. But unless these independents get together, get informed and actually turn out to vote the Good Old Boys still hold sway.
The proven method of keeping the independents un-unified is to find an issue and get them arguing about it. Maybe the Puna Community Development Plan (PCDP), maybe Puna Makai Alternate Route (PMAR) maybe banning cheap plastic bags. So far this has been successful BUT the margin of victory has gotten smaller and smaller for them.
So what will happen in 2010? It's really up to you.
Assume the best and ask questions.
Punaweb moderator
Punaweb moderator