I received my ballot in the mail yesterday. The election is the first Tuesday of November, and there are races for judgeships, city council, school board, and a Special Election for Congress because my representative quit a few months ago. He would say he had an opportunity he couldn't pass up for a position he really wanted, which is something like president of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce. I think he's a coward and a weakling who didn't like the developments in his party but didn't try to change anything, and instead ran away. I say this because I am giving him the benefit of the doubt. If he wasn't disgusted with his party, both in Ohio and nationally, he is either lacking any morals or a dimwitted fool (which I really don't see in most of his career). But after he was first elected, his party conspired to make him a non-entity.
Which brings me to the election. I have chosen a candidate, but I have not seen any polls for this race. I don't know that there will be any. Everyone who cares about such things already has a firm idea of the outcome of this election because it is for a representative in a gerrymandered district. That is why my representative was a non-entity; he had no concerns about losing to a candidate of another party, only about a primary challenge from the crackpots in his own party. That was, and is, a serious concern. The Republican candidate in this race is one of those crackpots. He has no experience in public service. He has no qualifications for the job. I a committee of professionals were created to find appropriate candidates for this position, he would not be on anyone's list. But he will win the election because it will be an undemocratic election, gerrymandered to make sure Republicans have power and the will of the people be damned.
Ohio officials are in the midst of redistricting, and Republicans are again showing disdain for principles, even in the face of a referendum demanding fair redistricting. They would rather keep power than follow the Constitution or uphold the election results. The new rules say that a bipartisan committee should create proposed districts, which are then to be voted on, and only if the result is bipartisan will the new districts be used for ten years. But Republicans are perfectly happy to ignore the demands of the voters in Ohio and principles of democracy or morals, or anything else that might challenge their position of privilege, and will instead vote for clearly unfair districts that give advantage to Republican candidates in enough districts to maintain a comical advantage in light of the actual vote numbers, even though it will mean the new districts have to be redone in four years, under the new rules. After all, with the new districts the Republican force into place, they will just do the same again every four years. They think, and possibly correctly, that they can say they are doing what is best, and be able to keep this up indefinitely.
I don't know what it would take to change this. I have read that the Ohio Republican Party is the most corrupt in America. After all, the Speaker of the House was hounded out of office for his blatant corruption earlier this year. But still Ohioans will vote for them, allowing them to manipulate the districts to keep themselves in power. And then the public is shocked by the level of corruption we enjoy.
I will vote anyway. I will learn what I can about the candidates in the races, and vote according to whom I see as best fit for each position. And I will endure the pain of seeing the results of a corrupt system maintaining itself and feel helpless. I comfort myself with the knowledge that for the most part, they are neither bright enough nor competent enough to do much real harm. It's just sad that some good could be done if only we had a government run by people with principles.
Wow, what would happen if these idiots saw this? Would anyone come for me? I doubt it. They know that attacking your enemies only draws attention, and so long as they don't draw attention, they can get away with basically doing nothing at all, and still keep their positions.
No comments:
Post a Comment