密歇根新闻广播 一位值得学习的民主党公仆

Ottawa County is a pretty lovely place on the western shore of Lake Michigan, a little south of Grand Rapids. I know it primarily for two things: the tulip festival in Holland, and for being the most Republican county in Michigan.

Ottawa last voted Democratic for president in 1864, when the local farmers decided² they'd had enough of the Civil War and wanted their boys home. Since then, it has been as Republican as they come. Franklin Roosevelt couldn't carry it, nor could Lyndon Johnson.

But times are changing in Ottawa County. Oh, Donald Trump³ creamed Hillary Clinton here. However, few people noticed, but Trump did worse here than Mitt⁴ Romney did in 2012. Clinton got a little more than a third of the vote, and in a shocker, actually carried the city of Holland.

Yesterday, I had the privilege of having lunch with the only elected Democrat¹ in the county, Doug Becker, a Holland Township trustee, who was reelected last month.

Becker is the kind of public servant we seldom hear about. He got into politics to make a difference for his neighbors. This isn't his day job; he commutes⁵ to Livonia in the Detroit suburbs, where he is director of HR technology for Trinity Health Systems.

Nor is he especially impressed with himself as a politician. He told me he'd gotten elected four years ago by luck, when one of the Republican candidates forgot to turn in his paperwork. This year, he said, "I won again because one of our sitting trustees died, and the local Republicans didn't fill the seat. I hate to win that way, but do my best to serve Holland Township."

That he does. His wife works for Amway, and they have two little daughters: Arianna, four, and Addison, two. Though he is scarcely rich, he donates his $3,000 township salary to charity. There are times he dreams of being in the legislature, but is realistic.

The best any Democrats⁶ did this year in any of Ottawa's districts was 34 percent, and that's because they ran an energetic small businessman who campaigned extra hard.

Becker, however, is more concerned about the state than himself. At 42, he is one of those poor Generation Xers squeezed between the far more numerous baby boomers and millennials. He grew up in the small town of Fountain, where his mother and dad owned the lumberyard.

He went to Saginaw Valley and Western, thought of becoming a history professor, but ended up getting an MA in Labor⁷ and Industrial Relations from Michigan State. He's always been interested in technology, and thinks of himself as a sensible fiscal⁸ conservative who was a moderate Republican until that wing of the party became extinct.

Being fiscally⁹ prudent¹⁰, however, doesn't mean not spending to fix our infrastructure¹¹ and for education.

"I worry about the huge skill gap in our workforce¹², and how that impacts our competitiveness," he told me.

He thinks gerrymandering has ruined sensible politics in this state, and wants to find a way to fix this and build a better Michigan for his daughters.

I have a hunch¹³ there are a lot of unknown public servants like Doug Becker. If we had a few more in higher positions, we'd probably all be a lot better off.

1 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

4 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

5 commutes   

上下班路程( commute的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She commutes from Oxford to London every day. 她每天上下班往返于牛津与伦敦之间。
• Barbara lives in Oxford and commutes. 芭芭拉住在牛津，通勤往来。

6 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

8 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

9 fiscally   

在国库方面，财政上，在国库岁入方面

参考例句：

• Nor will fiscally stretched governments pump more money into the political equivalent of a leper colony. 财政吃紧的政府也不愿将更多的钱投入这个避之唯恐不及的政治瘟疫区。
• We are more fiscally constrained, which forces us to work smarter and more efficiently. 与F-15相比我们资金上的限制更大了，美女类小游戏，这迫使我们更为精心和有效地工作。

10 prudent   

adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的

参考例句：

• A prudent traveller never disparages his own country.聪明的旅行者从不贬低自己的国家。
• You must school yourself to be modest and prudent.你要学会谦虚谨慎。

11 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

12 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

13 hunch   

n.预感，直觉

参考例句：

• I have a hunch that he didn't really want to go.我有这么一种感觉，他并不真正想去。
• I had a hunch that Susan and I would work well together.我有预感和苏珊共事会很融洽。