Of Scummy Politicians and Cynics

Last night my wife and I were watching television, and getting inundated with political ads. Now we don’t generally use these ads to determine who we’ll vote for. I try to research as much as possible about the candidates, and so does she, and then we share our conclusions. It’s a good exercise in learning to express these issues objectively as she and I don’t agree on everything. Sometimes we’ll go through the issues and simply because of different weight we put on different issues, we’ll find ourselves voting on opposite sides.

But we share several views about elections. One is that we dislike negative ads. Another is that we dislike empty ads, ones that tell you so little you can’t even claim they’re false. In principle, I think negative ads can be necessary and useful, but they are so rarely accurate that it’s hard to remember that on occasion a minority of such ads might have value.

Since we live in Pensacola, Florida and two of the three major local stations are actually in Mobile, AL, we get a full crop of these ads from both Alabama and Florida. After watching this flurry of ads, almost all of them negative, I comment that the ads were enough to make just about anyone into a cynic.

And that’s one of the problems with American politics right now. Often there is cynicism driving a lack of participation. Now I’m not saying the cynicism is not well-founded. There are a lot of scummy politicians out there. But non-participation simply gives scummy politicians permission to be scummy. If you allow yourself to be driven from the polls by negative ads, you may well be contributing to the election of the person who put those ads on. If both sides are behaving in the same way, your non-participation again gives them comfort in believing that’s how the game is played.

“But what can I do?” you may ask. “They’re all corrupt!”

But there’s where you’re wrong. I’m hoping you’re not so cynical as to believe everyone (not every politician, but every person) is corrupt. If you’re that cynical, then I give up. Go ahead and whine well the country deteriorates. I’ll ignore you. But if you realize that there are good people, people who would like to accomplish things in government, but who may be afraid to participate in the dirty political game, then let me make some suggestions.

1. Rember that the national elections are not the only ones
   All around the country there will be elections for local offices, city councils, school boards, county commissions, judges, sherrifs. Along with those will be elections for state offices. Many people ignore these elections until they get into the voting booth and then either vote party line or based on name recognition. I’m going to pull out a sample ballot and I’m going to look up everything I can find out about those minor office holders. Why? Because what they do locally is important. But also because they are the pool from which people will often be chosen for higher office.
2. Remember ballot issues
   Many of us will have ballot issues on which to vote. Make sure to study the issue, and not just go by the summary once you get in the voting booth. Just because a summary says a certain law will accomplish certain things doesn’t mean it actually will!
3. Consider independent and third party candidates
   One of the great virtues of minor party candidates is that they are vanishingly unlikely to get elected, so you can use them as a way to protest the major candidates. If more people did this, major candidates might start to pay attention. In close races this can be especially effective. I always consider the folks who are in striking distance of victory first to see if I can make a good choice, but sometimes I find that neither of them deserves my support, and in that case, I send a message.
4. If all else fails, write someone in
   This is not nearly as effective as voting for an independent or third party candidate who is on the ballot, but it’s a good last resort.
5. Consider running or encouraging someone else to run
   I say this with hesitation, because I would be very unlikely to run myself, but many of us who would never run can encourage others who have the right combination of skills and integrity to do so. If you do encourage someone, show up to work in their campaign and support it financially. Whether you’re an electable person or not, you can help out. I’ve done everything from stuffing envelopes to sending money.

In a government based on elected representatives, responsibility eventually falls on those who are eligible to vote. We can whine about excess spending, negative ads, and lack of information. But all of those happen because we let them happen. We could have a change of party in one or both houses of congress (and for accountability I’d like to see at least one house change), but it will likely happen with a minority of those eligible casting ballots.

Over the next two years there will be lots of people whining who never even showed up to vote. That’s just plain sad. They should find a sound-proofed room and whine to themselves.