Midterms and modern Republicans
Sep. 20th, 2018 10:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mtbcI now have my Massachusetts ballot paper in hand for the midterms. I find myself in a new and uncomfortable position. In neither the US nor the UK have I ever been much of a straight-ticket voter. Some options are likelier than others but I do have to review candidates and policies. A decade ago I would seriously consider both Democratic and Republican candidates and sometimes I would find neither palatable and go third-party.
What I find disturbing is how brazenly Republicans have lied in recent years. It has been obvious in everything from how close to an election to seat Supreme Court Justices to how tolerable a budget deficit is, and also from myriad other issues, that the means justify the ends, that they can't be trusted to follow the principles they so earnestly espouse. Sure, some speak up occasionally but when it matters their votes typically follow the party line: very often they seem to put party or donors ahead of the country. Congress should be keeping the President in check but they show no sign of stepping up on matters like international trade.
I could find out more about the candidates on my ballot paper, and probably shall, but for the Republicans things have gotten so bad that I won't be sure why I am bothering, why I should lend any credence to what they say. When judged by their actions, their compassion seems to be for the wealthy only and their respect for the democratic process wholly absent. I hate not to diligently give Republicans' candidacy due consideration but, at least at the Federal level, I would be a fool to, and I expect that many of the state office-holders have their eyes on the larger prize. It troubles me that a Republican would now have to jump a high hurdle indeed to engender any faith in me: we have come to a sorry pass.
All that is not to say I don't have a choice. While I do see some good Democrats listed, I also find the Libertarians and the Green-Rainbow folks even running for State Auditor; for the third-party candidates I tend to put more weight on who they seem to be as an individual.
What I find disturbing is how brazenly Republicans have lied in recent years. It has been obvious in everything from how close to an election to seat Supreme Court Justices to how tolerable a budget deficit is, and also from myriad other issues, that the means justify the ends, that they can't be trusted to follow the principles they so earnestly espouse. Sure, some speak up occasionally but when it matters their votes typically follow the party line: very often they seem to put party or donors ahead of the country. Congress should be keeping the President in check but they show no sign of stepping up on matters like international trade.
I could find out more about the candidates on my ballot paper, and probably shall, but for the Republicans things have gotten so bad that I won't be sure why I am bothering, why I should lend any credence to what they say. When judged by their actions, their compassion seems to be for the wealthy only and their respect for the democratic process wholly absent. I hate not to diligently give Republicans' candidacy due consideration but, at least at the Federal level, I would be a fool to, and I expect that many of the state office-holders have their eyes on the larger prize. It troubles me that a Republican would now have to jump a high hurdle indeed to engender any faith in me: we have come to a sorry pass.
All that is not to say I don't have a choice. While I do see some good Democrats listed, I also find the Libertarians and the Green-Rainbow folks even running for State Auditor; for the third-party candidates I tend to put more weight on who they seem to be as an individual.
