What kind of things do you look for in a candidate?
By Ralph Dickerson
When I started writing this blog, I decided to stay away from politics because I did not want this column to be divisive, however a text I received Saturday morning made me change my mind. First off I have to say I do not like Mitch McConnell. In his 30 plus years in office, I cannot name a single piece of legislation he authored which became law. The only positive thing he managed to achieve is building a competitive Republican Party in the state of Kentucky.
This is a positive because a competitive, robust two-party system in the long run is good for the state. Neither the Republican Party nor the Democratic Party has all the answers for the problems facing this country. They need to learn how to work together to solve our problems, and I think a competitive two-party system eventually weeds out the uncompromising ideologues in both parties.
With that said, I need to share the texts I received from an Amy McGrath campaign volunteer Saturday. At approximately 1 p.m. a McGrath campaign volunteer named David texted me inquiring as to whether I knew which candidate I planned to support in November. I told him, “Probably. McGrath needs to tell me why she is a better choice than McConnell.”
I then told him her simply saying she is a Democrat, a former Marine pilot and saying “defend Democracy” which I have seen on some campaign signs is poor campaign strategy. Two problems exist with this claim of “Defend Democracy.”
First, saying a vote for her defends democracy implies a vote for McConnell is an attack on democracy. Any time someone takes the time to participate in our election process, regardless of the candidate that he or she supports, that person helps defend our country’s democratic values. A vote for Democrats does not defend our democratic institutions, and a vote for a Republican is not an attack on those institutions.
The other problem with this line of thought is simply that the United States is not a democracy, it is a Republic, and a difference does exist. Both are democratic forms of government, but each operates differently.
In a democracy, the people make all of the legislative decisions. The people themselves are the lawmakers. The people vote for or against a law directly. No legislators or legislature exists.
In a Republic, the people vote for legislators to represent their interests in the seats of government. This happens at the local level with city councils, county magistrates or county commissioners, at the state level with state senators and representatives and at the federal level with U.S. House and Senate members.
So, back to my conversation with David, he answered and asked me, “What kind of things do you look for in a candidate?” I told him I wanted the candidate to tell my why he or she is a better choice than his or her opponent. I also told him, “I do not like McConnell, but simply put, McGrath has not told me why she is a better choice; she has not told me how voting for her is going to be a benefit to me.” I also told him in this situation, with McGrath not giving me reasons why she is the superior candidate, the devil you know is better than the one you don’t.
As I said, I am not a hard core Mitch McConnell supporter, but I am not going to vote for another candidate just because that candidate is not McConnell. I do not want to hear sound bite political answers such as “I’ll put people over politics,” or other such slogans. These statements tell me nothing about what policies the candidate will support in office. What is the candidate’s vision? How will voting for this candidate benefit not only me, but also the state of Kentucky? Give me a reason to vote for you!
The answer I received back floored me. I was not expecting this answer from a campaign volunteer. He said, “I do not have specific policies she stands for. All I can say is if you are okay with the way McConnell is handling things for both Kentucky and the country, just vote for who you think will do the least harm. Thanks.”
Really? If one of her campaign volunteers has no idea what McGrath stands for and what policies she supports, why would I vote for her? If her campaign volunteers cannot even articulate her vision to the voters of the state, is she even a candidate worth considering for the United States Senate?
