Many citizens are regarding this election with less than enthusiasm. Too long we have been placed in the mode of not voting for someone, but voting against his/her opponent. The ‘ lesser of two evils’ is a sad state of affairs for the nation of Washington, Lincoln, and FDR. What this country needs at this juncture are statesmen and stateswomen, not politicians.
Once a call to serve was a call to embrace a noble, self-sacrificing duty as a citizen of this nation, not a situation that if you can’t find work, you run for office or a sanctum to ensure being remembered by the history books after you had attained wealth and all the accolades that position and money can buy in the private sector. A call to serve was to respond to something greater than one’s prurient interests. This call gave us our greatest leaders who oftentimes went against popular mores—true statesmen/women.
That all changed in the early 70’s when groups embodied one issue and one issue only—prolife. With the decision of Roe v. Wade and the Equal Rights Amendment movement, citizens organized to judge, support, or exterminate elected officials on the basis of this one issue. Myopic and narrow-minded, these concerned citizens for life eventually formed political PAC groups whose sole mission was to defeat anyone who had a different view on conception, religious philosophy, or the constitution. They were a powerful and successful group, and even today when all else fails this issue is the rallying cry to divide and conquer.
Unfortunately, like Prince Charles looking for a virgin bride, the “best and brightest” of this nation have shied away from the vicious scrutiny of putting their entire lives under a public microscope by such groups. And what are we left with? Candidates manipulated by pollsters with generic, boiler plate ideas guaranteed not to offend any constituency. The results are that now we are faced with a crisis the likes we have not seen since the Great Depression and we have sycophants to choose from.
When is it worth considering a third party candidate? When the two parties have failed to produce candidates worthy of our vote. When the system produces politicians, no matter how quaintly packaged, instead of statesmen/stateswomen. We have seen attempts at a third party before with T. Roosevelt and more recently with Ross Perot. It is not a new idea. What is new is the state of affairs that our present two-party system has created. “Throw the rascals out!” may require wiping the slate clean on both sides of the aisle; there is enough blame to go around.
So, is there a place on the ballot for “None of the Above?” Yes, indeed, and we can thank the PACs and other one issue political action committees that have brought us to this crisis.
But As For Me…
Unless this campaign changes with a concrete economic recovery plan and governmental reform being offered by the candidates rather than the current clever sound bites, finger pointing, and ‘wag the dog, ’ supercilious arguments, come November, I will write in “None Of The Above.”
