The Great
Election Drama
By James Donahue
It goes without saying
that this week’s mid-term election is the hot-button issue of the moment. It has been made so by the strange behavior
of Senate and Congressional Republicans and Democrats who failed to cooperate in solving major issues put before them
during the first two years of the Obama Presidency.
They did this while
the nation's fragile economy continued to crash all around us. They argued over gays in the military, letting Mexican
migrants cross our borders, repealing the health bill, possibly ending social security and other less important issues
while more and more American factories moved overseas, and more and more Americans lost their jobs.
And the mechanism
behind this election became even stranger because of a Supreme Court ruling that opened the floodgates for millions
of dollars in secret campaign money to come flowing into mostly the coffers of Republican candidates, and the fact that a
pack of off-the-wall G.O.P. candidates from out of nowhere defeated incumbent Republicans in primary elections.
After weeks of being
slammed in the face from our nightly television screens with the most vicious attack advertising anyone can remember, most
of it believed financed by that secret money, and hearing constant reports by the talking heads of the various news channels
about the latest inane act by one of the Republican candidates for high office, and recognizing a growing suspicion that the
vote may be tampered with again this time around, election day has at last arrived.
So what are our options?
We can:
(A) Cast our votes for change, which means electing someone advocating cutting social security benefits, appealing
the long fought for health care bill, shutting down the department of education and extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich.
It means accepting representation from a man in Ohio who dresses up in Nazi uniforms, or a one-time witch in Nevada that stands
in opposition to masturbation. How low must we go to get change?
(B) Vote for a
straight Democratic ticket knowing this will probably just return us to the status quo. We can expect more of the same which,
when you think about it, wasn't good but not as bad as going back to the way it was under George W. Bush.
(C) Vote for any alternative candidates or write in
names of people we might like to see hold office, knowing that while this move involves a protest it also is throwing
our votes to the wind.
(D) Not bother
to vote at all.
If you examine the
options, it appears to us that (B ) has to be the best choice. While maintaining the status quo is not what American’s
want, it seems to be better than any of the other options offered in this year’s campaign.
What we all want are
gutsy politicians willing to stand up for the best interests of the nation and not let the big money interests have any affect on
the decisions they make. We want honesty and integrity in those offices.
We would like to see
a time when we could say that we were proud to shake the hand of our locally elected Congressman or Senator, and not feel
like rushing home to scrub down with hot soap and water afterward.
We haven’t seen
many of those kinds of real patriots step into the political ring in some time. And this is a year when they
are so desperately needed.
