Ted Bundy: Charming, but …
I think this election will be unlike any that I’ve personally experienced, either at local or national levels. Previous elections were about ideology, policies, and sometimes competency: the meat of what I consider good governance. A country needs honorable politicians who pursue policies which encourage the public’s goods: peace & prosperity.
But this election is less about those things and more about the more basic facet of governance:
Morality.
Basic morality – honesty, integrity, fidelity, sobriety, humility – is the issue of this election, unlike any other in my lifetime. This is both an individual and collective mandate:
Individually, which candidates, incumbent or otherwise, have acted in accordance with basic morality? Who have taken their duty to country with all due seriousness, and who have permitted their loyalty to entities other than country influence their behaviors to the detriment of the public?
Collectively, which entities, by which I mean parties and their allied groups, have encouraged behaviors in accordance to basic morality, and which have not? Which entities seem to be made up of high-minded individuals, and which seem to be led by power-hungry people who happily abandon basic morality if it brings them gain?
People who have read my blog know my vote will be straight-line Democratic, not because I agree with all of their views or view all of those candidates positively, as I do not make the mistake of demanding purity, but because, as an independent voter, I recognize the Republicans, both local and national, have become terribly disconnected from basic morality. For the first time I won’t be giving consideration to their positions; in my estimation, the current leadership of the Republicans, or the Party of Trump, as they style themselves, has become hopelessly incompetent, at best, and must be expunged.
Yes, there’s nothing new in the above, so if you read this blog, you know my stance. But over the last couple of weeks it’s been increasingly clear that this election is a different animal, an election concerning morality rather than policy, about the behaviors of the candidates – not their policies. It seemed necessary to recognize and enunciate this difference.
That is, if you’re planning to vote Republican – it’s no longer a question of what do you know that I don’t?
It’s what’s wrong with you?
