One Man's Take On All This

Reflecting on Electing

By Chris La Tray, 11-06-06

So it all comes down to Tuesday, doesn't it? All the hype, all the hopes; some flags will wave, some will go limp. Some faces will glow with delight, others will be crestfallen as their owners trudge on into the rest of the gray season, their heroes fallen with the agony of defeat. It's like the super bowl, only the commercials all suck.

I'm talking about the election, of course. The last, best way the engaged citizenry can make their will known. When 51% of a lesser percentage can be seen as a “mandate.” It is the several-page evaluation at the end of a seminar that dragged on a little too long, puffed up a bit too much hot air, and laid claim to far more things accomplished and yet-to-be accomplished than could ever possibly be . . . accomplished.

It is not my intention to sound cynical. You can’t pass gas without offending a cynic these days, and I don't want to be lumped into that crowd. I read one comment in a local blog, sneered across the DMZ of polite disagreement, from a guy in one camp to those in the opposite: "Go ahead and go back to giving this candidate your time and money if that is what it takes to make you feel important." Is that why people get so worked up this time of year, because working in politics makes them feel "important" and they don't want their self esteem challenged by those who dare to disagree?

No doubt many feel that way; most of them are likely the folks who are actually running for office. However, for the committed fraction of society who actually get out and try and win votes for their candidates, on the phones or door to door, it is much more than that. The last couple national elections have proven that every single vote does matter. And if the struggle to get the votes that lean the way your ideology takes you is not monumental enough, you then have to protect those votes after they have been cast. That is another important lesson of the recent past. Those who would make our democracy the mockery my blog example reflects would be more than happy if the rest of us just sat at home and TIVO’d our blissful ignorance. Thankfully, many want to see what it would look like if the metaphorical sun were to set behind a different range of mountains, and are prepared to blaze the trail.

I believe we are at a critical point in our history, and I don't think I am alone in this. Not just in the issues that get the press: peace, habitat protection, global climate change, human rights, privacy, health care . . . the list goes on. Each is a potential disaster, some already disasters-in-action, that require reasonable debate and wise brains to resolve. Not to mention an engaged citizenry. It's the debating and the engaging that worries me.

There is nastiness and what seems to be an acceptable level of disrespect seeping deep into our culture. It is ubiquitous in all phases of life, from the us-against-them mentality in sports where fans in the colors of rival teams are beaten in the stands to the winner-take-all-no-matter-how-you-get-there nature of reality television. The political arena is no different. Anything goes as long as you don't get caught. Want to steal an election? Go ahead and give it your best shot. Want to scare away voters who may cast on behalf of your rivals? Have at it! Want to secure an office and then throw giveaways and no-bid contracts at the folks who paid your way there? Hey, that's the way it works up in here, son! Lest you think I am wagging a finger strictly at the right side of the aisle because these descriptions fit a lot of GOP activity in recent years, think again. There have been plenty of so-called "liberal" enablers in getting us where we are, and the yowls coming from those camps often sound as if they are cries of dismay that they didn't think of the dishonorable tactic-of-the-day first.

Nonetheless, I voted straight-up Democrat. I don't feel like I voted for a party. I voted for change, and for candidates that seem to have a snowball's chance in Karl Rove's office to win. I would have been content voting for Jon Tester and Monica Lindeen for that reason alone; Burns and Rehberg are both parts of a political paradigm that drastically needs replaced. That Tester and Lindeen seem to be respectable candidates is a bonus; for once I don't feel like I am voting the lesser of a couple evils. If they win, I am counting on them to be instruments of this change, and expect not one iota less. I want civility to return to the arena of public discourse, and I want big money out of the governing of my country. The very way we handle these elections, and the way money determines who wins, is driving people away and narrowing the playing field to those who stand to gain most from how we currently conduct ourselves politically. I’m voting against it.

Many votes have been cast already, including mine, but over the next 36 hours or so it will all come to a conclusion. I have high hopes for a victory for change, but I did in '04 too. I hope I don't have to revisit that level of disappointment. Then again, it's not like we will have time to catch our breath. I hear there is another one coming in '08. . . .

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