The Gadfly is a series of letters offering commentary on local issues and published in the Warrensburg Gazette.

Oh, those poor Republicans. They kept control of the U.S. House of Representatives and regained control of the U.S. Senate, but here they are, whining that a few Libertarian voters cost them some close elections. Never mind that they control the state legislature as well as most contested Johnson County offices. Never mind that they could still get 660,000 people statewide to vote for a convicted felon, 4500 of them in Johnson County.

Oh, those poor Democrats. They lost whatever control they had in Washington D.C. and are losers in the Missouri legislature, possibly for the first time since the Ironclad Oath was overturned and former Confederate sympathizers got to vote. They’re still whining about the 2000 presidential election. Never mind that they still control all but one of the statewide offices and a reasonable number of local ones.

Generally, I think the Democrats have more real concerns to whine about than the Republicans; a lot of these concerns are of their own making. Their flagship officeholder is Governor Holden, who is not perceived as being particularly strong. Speculation already abounds as to which term-limited State Senator will challenge “one-term Bob” in the primary. A bloody Democrat primary certainly wouldn’t hurt the Republicans should they find a candidate with stature. Locally, the Democrat legislative candidate didn’t respond to a National Rifle Association survey; while the views he stated in local interviews probably weren’t that different from his opponent’s, gun owners weren’t about to take a chance.

Oh, the poor citizens who have to live with the people we elected. It would be nice if the parties would stop whining about elections past and see if they can figure out how to explain their core beliefs rather than just come up with new programs for transferring money or controlling our lives. Don’t think they will. In that case, Oh, the poor taxpayer!