Misunderstand

I had a conversation tonight with someone about the upcoming election, about the danger of voting for John Kerry because he is weak and indecisive and a Democrat, about the political process in the United States, and about how New York has turned me from a card-carrying Republican to a card-carrying Republican Liberal Democrat. It was a deeply frustrating and as well as enlightening conversation. I think I discovered something of what many average US citizens consider to be a thoughtful and reasoned take on politics.

My friend — a Bush supporter, Republican, and Texan — profoundly misunderstands the nature of the US system and the role of elections as a mechanism for holding politicians accountable for their choices while in office. For example, agreeing that there have been at least some large mistakes made by the current administration in Washington, my friend suggested that people vote for Bush anyway. This would give President Bush the opportunity to go in make right his mistakes. These of course include a failing effort in Iraq, botched Medicare reform, disastrous environmental policy, a foreign affairs mess, the PATRIOT Act, John Ashcroft, an abandoned Middle East Roadmap, constitutionalizing discrimination, proliferation of AK-47s in the US, ad infinitum. Instead of holding President Bush accountable for even some of these failings, we are expected to give him a second term, in which he will have a free hand to do what he wants without fear of actually being accountable.

This is not an issue of party — despite what my friend says I am still a Republican — it is an issue of seeing every election as an opportunity to tell candidates that they have been doing a good job or bad.

I mailed my vote for John Kerry to the Denton County Elections Administrator on Monday. No doubt he will cringe when he records my ballot.