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Voting for the lesser of evils Long ago a smart man said in effect that we stay
with the evil we know rather than go to a new unknown one.
Unfortunately, that sometimes translates into political choice. A very intelligent friend recently said he would
vote for the evil he knew rather than for an evil he wasn’t sure of.
He felt he knew George W. Bush’s evil, but didn’t know John
Kerry’s evil and was afraid of it. He would vote for Bush. What a way to make a decision so important now
as the President of the United States, to select a leader in one of the
most turbulent points in the nation’s history. Few elections have seen such polarizations.
Republicans can’t understand why Democrats and Independents
don’t like George Bush and see him as they do.
Democrats don’t understand why others don’t see the values of
John Kerry that they see. It’s really hard to know either candidate.
Madison Avenue and the snake oil salesmen have taken over and
remade them into someone they themselves may not recognize. Dubya Bush is a different man from the one who
campaigned against Al Gore and lost the popular vote in 2000. That candidate walked like he had springs in his shoes with a
prissy bounce. His speech
was filled with “ahs” and “errs.”
Bush 2004 walks like Gary Cooper going to meet the bad guys at
high noon. His speech is
like a page from the late Rodney Dangerfeld.
One-liners are delivered with timing and a wait for applause or a
laugh. He’s the good ole
boy from next door. No matter if the god ole boy next door lives in
a mansion on a Texas ranch. He
makes you forget it. John Kerry might fare better if he had the same
drama coaches. He presents
himself even more dour than a Gore or even Bob Dole.
When he explains something, it’s like taking the weather and
turning it into a dissertation on relativity.
If he learned to put on a “good ole boy” show like Bush, he
would fare better. But that
wouldn’t be him. Unfortunately, many people believe the short
attack ads. If either man
was as evil and dangerous as TV ads project, they would have to be
restrained for public safety. Neither is that. It would be better to put the hype from ads
aside, ignore the show biz presentations and look at the issues and the
men. What’s important to
America in the next four years? The
Iraq War and the Middle East. American
lives being lost on foreign battlefields.
Soaring oil prices and the oncoming inflation from it.
Unemployment and jobs going overseas.
Immigration unrestrained. America’s
infrastructure and schools. Health
care and Social Security. What will either man do for these problems?
Let us look at the positives each can bring to the table, not
what evil they man not bring. We need to brush up on our Shakespeare, as he
wrote in Hamlet: No
traveller returns, puzzles the will, And
makes us rather bear those ills we have Than
fly to others that we know not of? Thus
conscience doth make cowards of us all,
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