Ray Nagin has been re-elected Mayor of New Orleans. The first time I heard this man's voice was when he was freaking out on the national news. It should be readily apparent that this man is not capable of dealing with a crisis. This man is not fit to be a security guard, let alone serve as mayor.
Why do voters re-elect politicians who are obviously incompetent like Nagin, obviously corrupt like Marion Barry or Richard J Daley, or obviously stupid like George W. Bush? I think it's for the same reason that women stay with abusive husbands. They form an irrational emotional attachment to the guy, even if its obvious to everyone else that he is creating all sorts of problems.
As a "third party" candidate, you should know that another reason that people vote for candidates who are less than stellar government officials is that they don't think about ALL of the alternatives. In the case of the President, from all people could see from the media, most people would get a strong impression that the only viable alernative to Dubya was Gore in 2000 and Kerry in 2004. If those were really the only alternatives, voting for Dubya doesn't look so bad. Some that paid a little more attention might have thought that there was a third choice - Ralph Nader. Again, a vote for Dubya doesn't look so bad. People need to inform themselves or be informed off ALL of their options, including (for those wedded to the "two party" system) getting involved in the process of picking which candidates are going to appear on the ballot in November. I lived in Chicago in the days of Hizzoner da Mare, Richard J. Daley. He had no competition. He got elected for the same reason that Sadaam Hussein was elected President of Iraq. Who else was there? I actually talked to a real voter in Chicago, back in the 1970s who was not even aware that there was an election in November, because the only election where his vote meant anything was the Democratic Primary, which took place in the Spring. I'm not sure whether he was stupid or smart; you can look at it either way.
ReplyDelete