San Luis Obispo Tribune Logo

Tribune Columnist Tom Fulks says goodbye to readers — for now | San Luis Obispo Tribune

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • Customer Service
    • Contact Us
    • Mobile & Apps
    • Submit an Event
    • Buy Photos
    • News in Education
    • FAQ
    • Activate Digital Subscription
    • Manage Account
    • Newsletters

    • News
    • Local
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Investigations
    • California
    • California Weed
    • Nation & World
    • Lottery
    • Weather
    • Weird News
    • Submit a News Tip
    • Columns
    • Photos from the Vault
    • Weather Watch
    • Joetopia
    • That's SLO Weird
    • Sports
    • Outdoors
    • High School
    • Cal Poly
    • MLB
    • MLB Scores & Stats
    • NBA
    • NBA Scores & Stats
    • NFL
    • NFL Scores & Stats
    • Politics
    • The California Influencer Series
  • Business
    • Living
    • Food & Drink
    • Wine & Beer
    • Home & Garden
    • Travel
    • Columns
    • Linda Lewis Griffith
    • Pet Tales
    • Entertainment
    • Arts & Culture
    • Comics
    • Puzzles & Games
    • Horoscopes
    • Restaurants
    • Events Calendar
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV
    • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Viewpoints
    • Influencers Opinion
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Submit a Letter
    • Columnists
    • Tom Fulks
    • Andrea Seastrand
  • Obituaries
  • The Cambrian

  • Contests
  • Today's Circulars
  • Classifieds
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Cars
    • Homes
    • Real Estate Weekly
  • Place An Ad

  • About Us
  • Work For Us
  • Mobile & Apps

Tom Fulks

Tribune Columnist Tom Fulks says goodbye to readers — for now

By Tom Fulks

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 24, 2018 10:32 AM

This will be my last column before the June 5 Primary Election.

I’ve found myself involved in several local political campaigns and I want to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest in what I write here.

These races are personally important to me, so I’ve chosen to get involved rather than just opine. In my mind, the outcome of this election will determine the kind of county we’re to have — the kind of society we’re to be — going forward in this era of Trumpism.

We’re living in a time in which the norms of a moral, just society — and the objective truth about facts and science — are disregarded by a significant majority of Republican voters. Elected Republicans, locally and nationally, have abandoned principle in their defense of an unfit president and engage in a frenzied rush to reward their corporate masters with tax cuts and favorable public policy.

SIGN UP

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to The Tribune

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

As I’ve noted before, they’ve forsaken common decency, respect for traditional American values, the rule of law, the Bill of Rights, and the defense of our nation against its enemies.

Those things matter to me and just about everyone I know in San Luis Obispo County. The June 5 primary — the first election since Trump’s rise to power — will indicate what this county’s voters think about the direction of both our nation and community, how we feel about the soul of our society, and whether we’re going to accept the Trumpian ethos of “self above all else.”

I’ve been a strategist for 2nd District County Supervisor Bruce Gibson’s campaigns since his first in 2006. He’s a friend and I want to help him win re-election because, as a District 2 voter, I think he’s one of the best, brightest and most compassionate politicians ever to inhabit the board’s dais.

I’m also helping Greg Clayton’s campaign for county sheriff and Judge Mike Cummins’s campaign for District Attorney. Both are well qualified for their respective positions.

Their causes are important to me: Reforming this county’s criminal justice and mental health systems, shining a public light into and demanding accountability from these opaque bureaucracies that have the capacity to take people’s freedom and lives.

I’m profoundly curious about the case of Andrew Holland, whose jailhouse death a year ago — after being strapped to a restraining chair for more than 46 hours — triggered a $5 million payout to his family but scant investigation of civil or criminal wrongdoing at the local level.

His was one of 12 in-custody deaths in the past five years that, in my view, warrant robust public soul searching about the state of our county’s criminal justice and mental health systems.

It’s an uncomfortable subject for a lot of people, and many hold the attitude that those people wouldn’t have died had they not done something criminal to put themselves behind bars to begin with. Perhaps, but these deaths reveal a deeper problem — an institutional and cultural pathology that appears to devalue the humanity of people unfortunate enough to find themselves ensnared in the system.

Inmates are human beings, our neighbors, friends and family members. They’re entitled to their dignity — and their lives.

This system needs examination in a rigorous public debate that only a campaign can bring about. There’s no other incentive for public officials to explain the decisions and actions they take behind closed doors. This is precisely why we have local elections: to hold our officials accountable.

Politics is clash of ideas, a contest of philosophies. It’s messy and it routinely makes people irritable and angry.

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman put his finger on the problem: “America in 2018 is not a place where we can disagree without being disagreeable, where there are good people and good ideas on both sides, or whatever other bipartisan homily you want to recite. We are, instead, living in a kakistocracy, a nation ruled by the worst, and we need to face up to that unpleasant reality.”

Not everyone wants to engage in the rough and tumble of politics, but it’s the most fundamental ingredient of our republic. However, everyone should perform the one essential political act required in a working democracy: vote.

That some two-thirds of eligible voters in this county historically cast ballots is nothing to celebrate. It means one-third of eligible voters don’t.

Winston Churchill was right when he quipped: “Democracy is the worst form of government – except all the others.”

We may not like politics, but it’s elemental to our freedom. Please pay attention.

See you after June 5.

Liberal columnist Tom Fulks serves on the San Luis Obispo County Democratic Central Committee. His column has been running every other Sunday, in rotation with conservative columnist Andrea Seastrand.

Related stories from San Luis Obispo Tribune

tom-fulks

Congressional candidate Justin Fareed has troubling connection to big oil

January 26, 2018 05:57 PM

andrea-seastrand

DA Dan Dow deserves a second term; ‘Judge’ Cummins is not a serious contender

February 16, 2018 12:27 PM

  Comments  

Videos

They tried to cross the San Joaquin River in an SUV and got stuck. Fresno sheriff’s crew came to the rescue

Bernie Sanders set the agenda. But can he win on it?

View More Video

Trending Stories

The legend returns: Willie Nelson is coming to Paso Robles

February 19, 2019 11:31 AM

SLO County is the 7th least affordable place to buy a home in the entire United States

February 19, 2019 06:47 PM

2 arrested in connection with armed robbery, attempted carjacking at Pirate’s Cove

February 19, 2019 07:32 AM

Dear Trib: Bring back ‘Non Sequitur’

February 19, 2019 01:39 PM

Gavin Newsom’s housing lawsuit put 47 California cities on notice. Is yours on the list?

February 19, 2019 12:00 AM

Read Next

Why is SLO County Elections Office making it harder for people to vote?

Tom Fulks

Why is SLO County Elections Office making it harder for people to vote?

By Tom Fulks

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 01, 2019 03:00 PM

San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder Tommy Gong has decided against switching to all-mail balloting for the 2020 election. Tribune columnist Tom Fulks says that will result in smaller turnout, benefiting Republicans.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to The Tribune

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE TOM FULKS

SLO Progressives had a great year, and they’re looking to expand their influence in 2019

Tom Fulks

SLO Progressives had a great year, and they’re looking to expand their influence in 2019

January 11, 2019 02:41 PM
Warning: A political storm is brewing in SLO County

Tom Fulks

Warning: A political storm is brewing in SLO County

November 30, 2018 07:53 PM
Once reliably red, SLO County has turned blue

Tom Fulks

Once reliably red, SLO County has turned blue

November 16, 2018 04:46 PM
It’s time for the arc of American history to bend toward goodness

Tom Fulks

It’s time for the arc of American history to bend toward goodness

November 01, 2018 06:56 PM
Don’t think voting is important? Tell that to the people who’ve been denied this basic right

Tom Fulks

Don’t think voting is important? Tell that to the people who’ve been denied this basic right

October 19, 2018 05:19 PM
Like Trump? Then you’ll love Keith Gurnee as SLO mayor

Tom Fulks

Like Trump? Then you’ll love Keith Gurnee as SLO mayor

October 05, 2018 05:39 PM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

San Luis Obispo Tribune App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Archives
Advertising
  • Place a Classified Ad
  • Advertise with Us
  • Local Deals
  • Public Notices
Copyright
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story