Picking Candidates

When we vote, we are casting that vote to hire the candidate we have chosen for a specific job. We should know what the job entails and be able to see what the candidate has done to demonstrate their competence to actually do the job.  If we do neither, we should not vote.

 

Too many voters are uninformed and too many candidates hide how they would handle the job based on advice from political consultants to not lose votes by saying anything that would turn off any voter. Too many candidates fail to include their entire resumes and positions on issues on the websites and fail to answer questions honestly. Too many candidates present themselves as serving the voters, when in fact the system is set up to serve the special interests at all levels of government.

 

Most politicians are short on facts and long on platitudes. The questions asked in most candidate debates and forums are the wrong questions. The answers are geared to convincing uninformed voters that the candidate understands their unreasonable emotional needs, but real issues are never discussed. I’ve heard candidates for mayor say that Police protection is their highest priority, when in fact there was no crime spree there, but their critical infrastructure was crumbling due to the lack of maintenance. But roads and sewers were not “emotional issues”. It was manipulative and dishonest to pretend that Police will prevent voters from harm. Police don’t show up until after a crime is committed. But the political process has been corrupted to permit manipulation.

 

We are all sinners. So, when I look at Politicians, I expect some flaws. I look at the 10 Commandments and the lists of human weaknesses and virtues.

 

The Seven Deadly Sins include wrath, pride, greed, lust, sloth, envy and gluttony, All of these sins create problems for those who have them and for those who their bad behavior affects.

 

The virtues required for public service include honesty, integrity, competence and preparation to know how to do the job they are campaigning for and what they would select as real priorities.

 

If candidates are honest, they will begin to identifying real problems like Trump did in 2016 and they can also convey their affection for the voters. The reason candidates don’t talk about real problems is to avoid offending the “establishment” politicians they seek to join.  This begins the life of silence and deceit that encourages candidates to settle in to a life of pretending to do the job. This perpetuates government of the government, by the government and for the government.

 

The Problem with Candidates

 

The job of being a candidate up until now has been to lie to get elected and become a gadfly and a celebrity. Too many candidates are selected by special interests to perpetuate government by the government, of the government and for the government. Government itself is the largest special interest group on the planet and all they want is more government. They are “Establishment” candidates and the “Establishment protects its own. This isn’t good for the private sector where most of the taxes are collected.

 

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader