With less than two weeks before the election, this blogger took a sojourn back to the office oasis—a return to the water cooler.
Just as my fellow 20-somethings' journey to their high school reunions raised some questions in my mind earlier this week regarding the popular kid phenomenon, today the talk was all about the “likable candidate.”
A co-worker who shall remain nameless was remarking on how much she liked Dave Reichert, and was voting for him even though she is a ‘true liberal;' another remarked how Dave Ross was indeed a ‘dork.’
It was then that I remembered what my mother would tell me when I was growing up: “I vote the person, not the party, I am an independent.”
This made me wonder, why do we vote? Why does our democratic republic even have elections?
If issues -- abortion, taxes, social security, the war on terror -- really do matter, then why would we ever vote for “the best person” in a congressional race?
Sure, you might elect a "nice guy" from a party you do not normally agree with, and perhaps that person is a better representative, but if their party controls the House or Senate, and you oppose it, then you voted against your own beliefs in the spirit of being ‘independent’.
For this blogger, I say down with the best candidate, I am voting straight ticket. Not because of a narrow mind, but because issues truly matter in this election.
“Republicans believe every day is 4th of July, but Democrats believe
every day is April 15.”—President Ronald Wilson Reagan
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