There is No Such Thing as “Non-Partisan”!

I recently stumbled across yet another sanctimonious article whining that school boards, city councils, and other local bodies are supposed to be “non-partisan.” The author practically clutched their pearls at the thought of politics creeping into these sacred spaces. Absolute BUNK! There is no such thing as “non-partisan”, never has been, and pretending otherwise is intellectual dishonesty wrapped in a bow of naive wishful thinking.

The “Non-Partisan” Myth Is a Dangerous Delusion

This whole non-partisan charade is sold as some noble experiment: take the big, bad party labels off the ballot and, poof, suddenly everyone becomes a pure-hearted servant of the public good, free from ideology, bias, or conviction. Give me a break. It is pure, unadulterated fantasy, and anyone who still clings to it in late 2025 either has not been paying attention or is deliberately trying to gaslight the rest of us.

People Are Not Blank Slates

Human beings do not become neutral robots the moment they win a so-called non-partisan seat. Every single decision they make, every budget vote, every curriculum choice, every zoning decision, every personnel hire, is filtered through their deeply held beliefs, values, and worldview. You cannot unplug a person’s convictions like you unplug a toaster. Trying to pretend otherwise is not just naive. It is laughably absurd.

A board member who believes government should be small and taxes should be low will fight tooth and nail against bloated spending proposals. Someone convinced that leftist social engineering is the path to utopia will push exactly that. These are not minor differences in “management style.” These are fundamental, irreconcilable clashes of philosophy. Slapping a “non-partisan” sticker on the process does absolutely nothing to erase them.

The Label Is a Lie That Hides the Truth

The non-partisan label does not eliminate partisanship. It merely disguises it. Behind closed doors, candidates still cozy up to the same unions, business PACs, activist groups, and national political networks that back their ideological cousins at the state and federal level. Money flows from the exact same partisan sources. Endorsements come from the exact same ideological camps. Voters, meanwhile, are not idiots. They sniff out the leanings anyway, even when the ballot tries to play coy.

Worse, the myth allows ideologues to cloak their agendas in a false mantle of objectivity. They get to claim they are “just looking out for the kids” or “just focused on local roads” while quietly advancing the same national culture-war battles that divide the country everywhere else. When the mask finally slips, and it always does, the damage is already done, and the public has been sold a lie about who these people really are!

The “Unaffiliated” Myth

And let us not forget the self-proclaimed “unaffiliated” who love to crow about their independence while pretending the non-partisan fairy tale is real. These people are either delusional as those who still believe “non-partisan” actually exists or worse, they are simply too gutless to actually take a position. They hide behind the “I vote for the person, not the party” slogan because it lets them avoid picking a side, defending a coherent set of principles, and avoid admitting that every choice they make at the ballot box is still ideological. It is cowardice dressed up as virtue. They are not above the fray. They are simply too spineless to own their place in it.

Stop the Ridiculous Pretending

It is beyond comical. It is insulting to treat adults like children who need to be protected from the reality of human nature.

• Of course ideology infects local government!

• Of course convictions shape votes!

• Of course the same divides we see in Congress and State Legislatures show up in school board meetings and city council chambers!

They always have, and they always will.

The sooner we rip off the “non-partisan” Band-Aid and admit the obvious, the better. There is no neutral zone in public life. There are only people with beliefs, fighting for what they believe. Pretending you can scrub that element out of decision-making is not a noble ideal. It is a cowardly evasion of reality.

Call it what it is: Partisan. Ideological. Conviction-driven. Because that is exactly what it has always been, label or no label. And anyone who tells you different, whether they wear a party badge or smugly call themselves “unaffiliated” is either fooling themselves or trying to fool you!

I prefer someone who is intellectually honest who can admit where they stand.  That may be on the other side of the aisle, but that is OK.  I can respect that, even if I disagree with them.  It would allow us to have a real discussion and not bask in the delusion of “non-partisanship”.

Michael J Badagliacco, “MJB”