Politics a la carte
I went to a Republican candidates forum for North Carolina State offices last month. (Suddenly I want to sing, “I went to the Animal Fair.”) First of all, we are in worse trouble than I thought. Why? Because there were more candidates than audience members, and speaking with several of the candidates before the event, they each said this is the case everywhere they go.
Citizens are disengaged, have given up, are cynical, and generally don’t believe anything they hear. So they stay home. They don’t even bother to meet the candidates or listen to what they say. Our political class has become so distrusted at this point, that I’m wondering how this country can even hold an election.
Maybe citizens are waiting for November. I don’t know. But this is primary season and this is when the citizens will have the most say over who is on the ballot in November. Where are the citizens?
My observation is that North Carolina is mirroring the national presidential race on the Republican side of the political aisle. I’d hardly say the candidates we’re seeing, except in a few cases, qualify for the definition of “staunch Republican.” They say they are conservative Republicans; but like the presidential primary race, what we are getting is a mish-mash of hybrid types. Some don’t seem conservative at all. Some are Libertarians. Some have their pet projects; some have an unrecognizable agenda somewhere between big government and smaller government; most talk about more jobs, a better economy and lower taxes. They offer generic sound bites for an audience who has heard it all before and is sick of seeing the same old-same old. One old guard Republican, a man who has been around the game for years and years, leaned into my ear on his way out to say, “This is a room full of B.S.”
What’s sad about this is that I believe there are citizens out here in the hinterland who are craving substance. Without clear definitions of policies and serious substance, is it any wonder that citizens are tuning out? Maybe citizens really don’t care anymore. Maybe they truly have given up. It’s become sort of like shopping for wallpaper: there are so many undesirable choices that wading through them all is just too overwhelming for anyone to suffer. Maybe the citizens are waiting for the cream to rise to the top so then they can make some decision. But at the least, at this point, it doesn’t look like the citizens are very much engaged.
I’m looking at the slate of Republican candidates for state and county offices and there are: six candidates for Governor, five candidates for Lt. Governor, five for Auditor, five for Superintendent of Public Instruction, four for Secretary of State, three for Commissioner of Insurance, four for State House Dist. 109, three for U.S. House 10th Dist., and scores for county commissioner…it goes on. In Gastonia, we have no less than 10 judicial seats up for grabs, plus the Register of Deeds seat. There are a very few positions running unopposed. All of these candidates didn’t show up for the forum I attended, but quite a lot of them did, which made for a very long night; and that, my friends, is just the Republican primary in the State of North Carolina.
I am somewhat involved and engaged in all of this and I look at that list and my mind is spinning. So imagine folks who are just going about their daily lives and not watching this closely. What can those people do to vote intelligently on all of those elected positions?
I have an idea. It may be ridiculous, so you can tell me if it is. What if the Republican Party actually had standards of policies that must be agreed upon by candidates? Would that cut the wheat from the chaff? In other words, put together a list of policies that must be followed if you wish to run for office as a Republican. Is that so hard? What we have now, for some unknown reason to me, is a list of Republicans with policies all over the map, an a la carte menu of so many variations that no one seems to adhere to anything. Is it any wonder that citizens are confused? Add to that the Republicans already in office who vote this way and that way, who hold no clear definitive principles, and what do you have?
There is still more debate to come, including several Tea Party Candidates Forums. We’ll see if more people turn out for those, and if we can nail the candidates down. At the moment, though, it all seems like a very difficult slog.
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