Column 57 for October 10, 2000

Politics. I love it and I hate it. Unless you’re a "one-issue" voter, the latest presidential elections haven’t given us much to choose from. The "straight ticket" voters have it easy. They’ve made up their minds long before the candidates have even been selected!

Elections are supposed to make us think. Evaluate. Sometimes though, they just make us numb. Who or what do we follow when we decide on a candidate? Do we vote the same way our family has always voted? Are we the type of person who always buys a Ford or Chevrolet, depending on family tradition? Do we vote for the party or candidate that our church strongly "hints" would be the only acceptable choice? Do we get simple-minded and vote for the candidate who looks most presidential? How selfish do we vote? Just for our personal interests? Or does the good of the country weigh more?

By the time you read this, the first televised presidential debates will be over. Guess what? Both sides will be claiming "victory." The spin-doctors for both parties will be making the most of the errors of the opposing candidate. The ad agencies will be busy making the most of both the best and the worst. And making a ton of money doing it. George Gallup and other pollsters will be out there, measuring voter "swing" and will declare an "official" winner of the debate. The third and fourth party candidates will be crying "foul!" So what’s new? Isn’t this the way it always is?

Politics is an art of compromise. No candidate will believe in everything exactly the way that we do. Very few bills make it through Congress undebated. "My way or the highway" doesn’t make it in a democratic republic. That’s a fascist principle. Compromise is not a bad word. Legislators, such as our own Bob Barr, are fated to shout loudly to the very end, yet accomplish little in the grander scheme of things, except to keep a narrow constituency happy with the fact that they gallantly tried.

It’s time to think. Evaluate. This upcoming election is much more that a battle of two so-so candidates. We likely could be, in effect, "electing" our next two or three Supreme Court Justices. Their decisions will have impact on us and our families for generations far beyond the next 4 to 8 years. Think. Investigate. Decide for yourself. Then vote. Please.

I still wish I could vote for a Sam Nunn / General Colin Powell ticket… I don’t think either Gore or Bush would stand a chance. In the meantime I’ll consider the choices we do have. Peace. tomiswho@mindspring.com