‘Tis the Season

For politics as usual in Alabama. Smear campaigns run with such pounding frequency that by the time the election roles around I’m usually at a loss and fell like I’m doomed to select the lesser of competing evils. Add the national media fixation concerning party control of the legislature and it becomes downright depressing. A foreigner observing this behavior would easily come to the conclusion that we are being governed by morons and in many cases such thinking wouldn’t be unfounded. Partisan politics too often has a choke hold on this country. If I could find enough principled independents to fill the ballot I wouldn’t cast a vote for any Republicans or Democrats.

I received a phone call the other day presumably from the Republican party asking that I take part in a short three-question survey. Caught off guard by the suggestion that such a short phone intrusion really existed, I agreed to participate. The first two questions determined party affiliation and identified important issues. The third and final question asked “If the presidential election were held today which republican nominee would you be inclined to vote for?” The choices were McCain, Frist, or a third I don’t remember. I thought about it for a moment and gave her the only answer I could muster, “I really don’t know.”

Sad but true. McCain might have gotten the nod a few months back but now I doubt it. I don’t really agree with some of the views he’s been pushing lately.

Back to the rat race in Washington: it would seem that most politicians still believe that party affiliation is the key to a win, that there is still a vast majority of voters that “pull the ticket” voting purely by party. I could care less what party an individual claims, if he or she displays character and supports the issues that I happen to believe are important they get my vote. Most people I know vote for the candidate not the party. Take election reform one step further and eliminate all the money spent on those annoying attack ads and run a clean campaign on the internet… FOR FREE (well, almost). All that funding could be used in truly constructive ways, starting with reducing the national debt. I think it is entirely feasible that a congressional or presidential campaign could be successfully run using the power of the internet even if it required a write-in on the ballot. Such a precedent would require a candidate capable of capturing public attention and support in a way that few if any career politicians could possibly do in this era.

Therein lies the challenge: find a person that could capture America’s heart and lead us away from the morass that is modern American politics. Float that candidate and his or her platform out there on the internet and watch the movement grow. If that seems too far-fetched then at least vote for people you believe in, people of character, of integrity. Blue/red, jackass/circus performer, male/female – none of that really matters as long as they have “the right stuff.” Vote to keep what you like, vote to discard the trash. Above all, vote, but do so intelligently. Pulling a party ticket hoping that your party will “do the right thing” is ignorant at best and only serves to perpetuate a broken institution that is wasting our resources.