Tomorrow we vote. I’ll be out there, but I’m not that enthusiastic about the process. Thanks to the candidates (and the same two large parties that New Jersey thinks are essential to democracy) there’s really nothing to vote for. Don’t get me wrong, there are good reasons to vote, but once again my major consideration in deciding how to vote is voting against certain people and things. Voting against crooks. Voting against incumbents incompetents. Voting against people who squandered their opportunity to tell me what they could/would/should do and instead deluged me with trash about their opponents. In California’s inexplicably long election season (we’ve been stuck with these candidates since primaries last March), I’ve seen very few examples of anyone actually trying to show leadership potential, much less actually showing leadership skills. The few examples I’ve noticed aren’t in my districts. And I haven’t even started talking about the initiatives sponsored by people too cowardly to ask for my money now, but who want to borrow in my name and let me pay for their causes for the next twenty or thirty years.

Candidates of the little, non-essential, parties, might not have much chance of winning but it also means they’ve got little to lose. For better or worse, people with little or nothing to lose at least tend to speak honestly, and I can respect that. They’ll get most of my votes tomorrow. Even when I don’t agree with someone on every issue, personal respect can go a long way.

Comments are closed.