A Final Look at the 2012 Election
Irrespective of outcome, the biggest loser is the
voter. As the global proponent of
democracy we are the epitome of do as is say, not as I do. We are skeptical of elections in other
countries claiming they are neither ‘free nor fair’, but when the same international
body used to judge a nation’s electoral fairness is not only banned in a dozen
U.S. states, these monitors are also threatened with arrest. What are we hiding? When poorer countries like Mexico and India
can invest $Billions in biometric technology to insure fair elections and Hugo
Chavez’s Venezuela has electronic voting machines and we have a patchwork of
the archaic and antiquated. I say enough is enough. The time has come for a new voting rights
act, a national independent bureau for voting standards. Those that believe in state’s rights might
balk at such a notion, but accepting the status quo is not a practical solution.
One of the problems with the voting process is the large
number of ballot initiatives and referendums that slow the polling process
down. Now I believe in citizens having
strong voices in policy, but I have a problem with placing state constitutional
changes in the hands of a rather ignorant electorate when we have already
chosen our elected officials. I want
active voters, not necessary activist voters easily swayed by special interests
and big money. If you are an elected
legislature, then legislate. In Arizona,
sales tax increases have been placed on ballots and not legislated by the
elected officials. If the state legislature
and governor cannot deal with simple things such as revenue and spending, what
good are they? Yes states can be the laboratories
of democracy, I just don’t want mine to be the meth lab.
Negative ads is redundant.
With all of the money that poured into the election the overwhelming
amount was spent on negative ads at the local, state, and federal levels. I am not a Pollyannish naïve Kumbaya singing ‘why
can’t we all get along’ optimist, but to think that the day that campaign ads
that promote a candidate’s record, accomplishments, beliefs, visions, or goals has
come and gone is a disappointment.
So now that those aforementioned political ads are now
longer be broadcast, we’re back to ambulance chasers, Empire Flooring, Wayne’s World
quality car dealership promotions, and ‘we buy your gold’ advertisements. Not sure what is worse.
At the end of the day, we have suffered through a two year
long election cycle featuring campaigns based on hate, fear, and greed. I know the nominating process is grueling but
watching Republican candidates try to out Tea Party one another with their
anti-Obama hate, social conservative views, and guns guns guns rhetoric did not
help the country. I also single out the
ridiculous GOP debates that were moderated by stooges and governed by idiotic
rules. Jon Huntsman summed it up best on
Sunday when he said the GOP needed to be more concerned about big ideas and
less about the President’s birth certificate.
And finally, has there ever been a better surrogate than
Bill Clinton?
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