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What does it Mean?
By Al
Ruechel | 11-14-02
Sorry I haven’t written for a week.
Hard as it is for me to believe, many of you enjoy ready my stuff on
a regular basis. I had to take an election break before the election
broke me. One more stinking negative ad and I was ready to pack by
bags for a refreshing vacation in drought-stricken Northern
Ethiopia. I have no stomach for divisive consultant-generated-ads
that treat us all like a bunch of morons whose only hot buttons are
phrases like conservative or liberal or tax and spend or lock box or
gutting social security. Wake up! We do engage our brains
occasionally.
Actually, my favorite moment of the evening came just after 6:15 PM
when the voter news service announced their computers were broken,
and there would be no projections based on exit polls. Yes! Being a
TV anchor the thing I hated about election coverage was projecting a
winner with less than 5 percent of the votes counted. Remember
2,000? Burned once, your fault! Burned twice, my fault. Thanks to
whoever generated the computer bug that knocked out VNS. I hope it
happens every election.
Here are some other things we learned during Election 2002. Voters
didn’t feel like getting even with anyone for the 2000 election
disaster. Despite some ridiculous calls for revenge from Washington
local voters did what they do best; they cast their ballots for
candidates they liked and for messages that were closest to their
hearts. Even though most of those that won had the big “R” after
their name, folks told reporters over and over again they voted for
what made sense to them. The economy may not be great but it seems
to be improving. We need to do more for education and the
environment but not at the expense of sacrificing our security.
The Democrates also should have learned a number of other lessons.
George Bush is no country bumpkin. And if he is, than the majority
of Americans must also have straw sticking to their clothes. Bush
seems to speak for and to and like the common man or women in
America who actually like being lead instead of being commanded to
follow. They should have also learned that America, according to
every poll I saw, is over its blind date with Bill Clinton. Every
place Clinton went and campaigned the candidates lost. As one
commentator put it, “the loveable town drunk came to the door and
voters politely shook hands and then asked him to leave….forever.”
There were some other interesting twists. The candidates that spent
the most money didn’t always win. In Texas, a multi-millionaire
spent $50-million dollars of his own money and lost. In Florida, the
Republicans outspent Bill McBride and won. And as far as I know, not
a single new Senator has a net worth of less than one million
dollars. So much for the phrase “citizen lawmaker”.
Oregon voters soundly rejected universal health care. Florida voters
got it right! Amazing what happens when poll workers actually show
up prepared to work. Legalizing marijuana was handcuffed and sent
packing. And voters examined over 200 amendments and approved most
of them even if it means raising taxes to pay for them. Go figure!
So what’s the message from all of this? People that actually went
out and voted did a pretty good job of handling all those new voting
machines. They also rejected a lot of partisan politics and messages
that didn’t make sense or address the issues they felt were
important. Most Americans are apparently just to the right of center
and when threatened by an outside enemy they listen to their leader.
I also think most Americans want honest and open and civil
discussions of divergent ideas. An orderly election is or should be
the culmination of that exchange. Whichever ideas are the best
articulated with the best candidates will carry the day…party be
damned. When political parties try to demonize those ideas or the
men and women who carry them they lower themselves another notch.
And the most important message from this election is that your vote
does count. Forget all this disenfranchised crap and lawyers looking
over your shoulder to ensure your rights weren’t violated. We don’t
need meddling. We need citizens willing to participate and willing
to educate themselves about the issues and candidates. If you took
the effort to go to the polls, you and democracy were both winners.
If you didn’t vote than do me and the rest of the country a favor.
Keep your mouth shut until 2004.
Al Ruechel, copyright 2002, all
rights reserved
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