Ex-Candidate Explains Oxford's Political Landscape
John Parks, a professor in Miami University’s English Department, understands the delicate balance of Oxford’s political landscape. Parks, a resident of Oxford for 31 years, ran for U.S. Congress Eighth District representative in 2000. Facing a strong incumbent Republican, Parks received 40 percent of the vote and failed to gain the seat. Now he takes an in-depth look at Oxford’s political landscape through the years; especially surrounding the Talawanda school levy debate, which has been the hot political issue of the last two years.
Dressed in his usual short-sleeved, button-down shirt and tie and sitting in front of an office library fitting of an English literature professor, Parks has the chance to dwell on societal issues professionally everyday. Much of American literature deals with issues that affect our way of life, and Parks reflects on these issues on a daily basis.
“I don’t use my classroom as a forum to tell my students how to think, but literature gives all of us a chance to think about some of the more important aspects in our culture,” Parks said.
Parks, who grew up in Southern California, formed many of his political views from this liberal environment. California was a hotbed of liberal activism during the 1960’s, and if you were a young Californian then, it was difficult not to accept liberal, anti-war positions. Like many others of his generation, he felt motivated towards political activism when the charismatic Kennedy family came to power. He also used his faith as a forum for activism. As a preacher at a Los Angeles church, Parks participated in civil rights rallies in Watts, a predominantly black neighborhood in Los Angeles. Causes such as this display his devotion to a morally just society. As he thumbs the pages of an anthology of short stories he is reading, Parks tells me his political ideology differs from that of many fellow citizens.
“I would characterize the general politics in Oxford as conservative, despite the presence of a university,” Parks explained. “Even the faculty is relatively conservative.”
He went on to say that when the faculty thought about unionizing, only 130 faculty members voted for it. While universities are usually places of liberal thinking, Miami does not fit that image. Along with a conservative faculty, Miami’s student body leans more to the Right, as evident by one of Ohio’s largest College Republican chapters.
When referring to the debate on funding for the Talawanda school district, Parks is not surprised by the levies’ repeated failure.
“In larger urban areas, school levies pass pretty readily, but in Oxford, it’s different,” Parks said. “It is not that citizens are anti-levy, against education, but the conservative majority is very anti-tax for education.”
He refers to the citizens of Oxford who own large portions of rural land and do not want to see an increase in their property taxes, the main way the state of Ohio raises money for public education. But Parks does not place blame for the under-funded state of Oxford’s schools on the citizens who have repeatedly voted the levy down. He understands their concerns and offers another scapegoat for the troubles.
“The state must reconcile the current system,” Parks suggests. “With the cost of education rising the way it is, shifting this heavy burden onto the communities is not the way to go. These tax hikes should be subsidized more.”
While the holes in the current system are evident here in Oxford, Parks says levies all over the state fail, and all for the same reason: unfair tax burdens. He went on to say that the only communities in the state that have strong school systems are those where the predominant socio-economic class is middle to upper class.
“You can look at some of the great school systems in the affluent suburbs, and then you can look at the urban and rural communities,” Parks said. “The disparity is awful.”
The political landscape of Oxford does not center solely on the education funding debate. Significant partisanship can be seen in the real-estate and development industries, and Parks thinks these issues have had a huge effect on politics in Oxford for the last 30 years.
He contends that in several instances real-estate ventures ignored the community’s needs, specifically citing the senior living apartments, which recently raised rent, causing many elderly, long-time residents to move out.
“Realtors can charge students such high prices, and often these members of the community are looking only at money,” Parks said. “The Republican right wing fails to be pragmatic dealing with services.”
Since Parks has lived in Oxford, he believes the quality of life has changed for the worse. He refers to public money that goes to private ventures, destroying much of Oxford’s quaint appeal.
“Most of the mom-and-pop stores that once lined High Street are now gone,” he said.
Parks suggests that local leaders in Oxford should take a closer look at the needs of their fellow citizens instead of looking at everything from a fiscal point of view; he says the real-estate contingent should not get whatever it wants at the residents’ expense.
While we did discuss the negative aspects of Oxford’s political landscape, Parks asserts that it is not all bad, with most voters on both sides being moderate instead of radical. But partisanship definitely exists, and that divide usually has to do with land.
As a 31-year resident and a citizen who loves his community, Parks has some advice for those spinning the political wheels.
“I’m glad people are making a buck, but I wish people could recognize some of the deeper moral issues we are faced with,” he says.
To email Prof. Parks:
Read a story by Drew about the Citizens for Fair Taxation
Read a story by Drew about the possible deconsolidation of the Talawanda school district