We’re proud of our freedom to choose who to vote, for our own pick of reasons. It’s precious even if, perversely, it includes the freedom to allow others to make the choices for us, for our own pick of considerations.
I’m choosing to not allow others to make choices for me. I’m voting for candidates who I think are most likely than others to be better in three things that I deem important:
1. How they’ll handle difficult issues. We’re facing many. The climate emergency. Pervasive poverty. Our education system being plagued by a long history of gains and setbacks. Corruption. Justice being elusive for most. Public spending (national and local) being prone to be Jekyll and Hyde dramas of public service on one hand, and opportunities to make money on the other, all for the people to pay for as debt burdens or as higher taxes.
These are complex. They can’t be simplified or glossed over by cute sound bites, political platitudes, and posturing, single-minded theorizing and ideologies, or by spending more and borrowing more.
For sure, no one President could solve these issues fully during their terms; many may not make any dent on them.
I’ll prefer a candidate who’s most likely to have clear clues on the issues, and who shows determination to make some progress in addressing them.
2. How they’ll act on difficult issues. Would they act on the issues we face? Or would they make excuses, look for scapegoats, or parry them one way or another to protect their political persona and interests?
Would they be listening to many sides of an issue? Would they be guided by integrity and virtue?
I’ll go for one who is more likely than the others to act on issues, and who’d listen to others before making decisions. I’ll gauge candidates on these questions against how I see them being more likely than the others to place importance to people’s interests, and not to holding on to power.
3. With whom they would likely act on difficult issues. Would they act alone, or lead the people to act on the issues we face? Would they involve others with different sways and persuasions?
My measures for how a candidate would compare with others on these two questions would be their track record in their public and private lives of being transparent with their civic engagements, open and participatory when assessing options, and truthful in their pronouncements about matters of public interest.
I will need to be sure that I don’t get lured by glib, glamour, and gaslighting as shrouds to hide lack of gumption to do more for the people.
It’s easy to be drowned by many things said about a candidate. But elections are not about candidates.
Elections are about our country and our community. They’re about citizens voting on which candidates would be good for the country, for the community, not about who has the shinier personality, the shinier pieces of silver, or the most glitter or glory.
All the candidates for the May 9 elections have different strengths and credentials. I’m voting for those most likely to seek to understand issues in depth because they know they’re important to the people; who would listen to more voices on issues; who would decisively act on issues with resolve and integrity; and who would mobilize large swaths of the citizenry to get involved in acting on issues.
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