Somewhere in between the pompous arrogance of the ultra right wing Rush Limbaugh and the smug self-righteousness of the progressive left’s Bill Moyers lies people such as myself. Somewhere in between the hard and rash attitude of most conservatives and the blatant hypocrisy of most liberals lies people such as myself. I truly find myself in “no man’s land”, that spot in the middle of two extremes no one dares to tread.
Where and how the mistaken notion came about that fundamentalist theology translates into ultra conservative politics I do not know. In fact, I am not quite sure where and how one’s attitude towards the Bible became synonymous with a particular political position. The Bible is totally mute concerning politics since there was no such animal in Bible times. All attempts to justify mixing the Bible and politics thus become a lesson in futility.
Since we live in a republic which holds elections, I find no fault in participating in them if there is a candidate worth voting for. The problem comes in the ridiculous two party system of politics this country insists on having. Sure there are other parties, but for the most part they matter little in most elections. The only way to have a vote mean anything is to stick with the horrid choices the Democrats and Republicans come up with.
Now, if people like Rush Limbaugh and Bill Moyers ran for President, then there could be some real excitement in the air. Of course I would still have no one to vote for, but the rest of the country would sure be entertained. Unfortunately, the Presidential job doesn’t pay enough to entice Rush to run and Bill has his own reasons for refusing to run. That leaves us with the normal crop of lawyers and other professional politicians who know only how to seek votes and little else.
Many countries and even some states have general elections with a mandatory percentage needed to win the election. If one candidate does not reach this percentage, there is a runoff election to select the winner. Why does there have to be the endless primaries and conventions and all the other ridiculous elements of a two party system? It was certainly not that way when this country first started electing Presidents.
I honestly wish that anyone who gained a set number of signatures could be on the ballot to run for President. Even if there were 50 people running, so be it. Let them conduct their campaign as they see fit wherever and whenever they choose. Establish a date for the first round of voting and if no one candidate gets over 50% of the vote, the top two or three or four have a runoff election in November. With so many people on the ballot, this runoff would be a necessity almost every four years.
I know this idea would never fly and never be considered any more than a National sales tax or other measures that are far too logical to ever happen. No, we must continue to put up with absolute insanity every four years. We must invest millions upon millions of dollars into an election which barely half of the country cares enough to vote in. When it is all said and done and whoever ends up being elected finally gets to his or her office in the White House; nothing will have changed, no matter what they said during the campaign.
That is the stupidity of the whole process. No matter who wins the election, there is still a Congress and a Supreme Court to deal with. One person cannot change this whole country with their ideas and rhetoric. Looking back, I can think of no candidate who has run for President since JFK who really was any different than the rest. That is a sad commentary on the whole business of electing a President of this country.
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