You’d think that with the election two weeks away there’d be
a lot of fodder for a political column, but having written already about the
IVGID and County races, I find myself seized by a curious lethargy where the
other elections are concerned. It’s not that I don’t think they’re important. I
believe that the outcome of the Presidential election will determine the future
of this country for years to come. It’s the state races that have me fundamentally
bored to tears. Dean Heller is unimpressive to me. He’s a party-line Republican
for whom, as near as I can tell, an original idea would either frighten him to
death or go unrecognized. Shelly Berkley, on the other hand has shown me
equally little in terms of leadership, and while I don’t believe she’s as
corrupt as the GOP is painting her, it’s hard to imagine there’s not something
rotten in that particular Denmark, so I just can’t get excited. Mark Amodei
versus who? All in all it seems like a bunch of sleepy races.
Jim Clark covered the State and County propositions well
last week, and I agree with him. If the Legislature needs to meet more often,
than make it a regular annual session, not some jury-rigged special session. I
have no interest in our getting involved in the spitting contest between Reno
and the County over emergency services, and the business of raising vehicle
registration fees is too vague to be useful. I’m going to vote “no” on all
three.
That leaves the Presidential race, and no one who’s read
three words of just about any column I’ve written will be surprised to learn
that I’m voting for Obama/Biden. I haven’t written too much about this race
because it won’t be decided here – this one will be decided in two areas – the very
few undecided or swing voters and that ill-conceived vehicle of elitism, the
Electoral College. I don’t think there are very many undecided voters in our
community, and while Nevada is considered a swing state in the Electoral vote,
Clark County and the rest of Washoe County will carry far more weight in that
swing than we will.
Still it’s worth considering the impact this election will
likely have. The far right have hijacked the Republican Party away from its
historic base and Governor Romney has shown that he will bend in the direction
of whatever will get him elected. We can expect then that a Romney presidency,
with the ultra-right Ryan as his Tea Party Jiminy Cricket will do its best to
move the country far to the right of where it has ever been and where a
majority of clear-thinking Americans want it to be. The impact of that on
everyone but the very wealthy, the proverbial 1%, is likely to be devastating,
with the extent of devastation increasing as you go down the socio-economic
scale. Re-electing President Obama will affirm that this is still a country of
more-or-less equal opportunity, a country that takes care of its poor and its
veterans, and that recognizes that in the modern world certain things like
decent affordable health care are a right, not a privilege.
But whichever side of the argument you’re on, one thing is
sure - as a nation we are at loggerheads, and a slim or indecisive result won’t
change that. Get out and vote – our best hope lies in a clear outcome; as
Lincoln said, “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” Whoever is elected
needs a mandate and a clear commitment to bring us together; we can’t give him
the second but if we vote in record numbers, there’s a shot at the first.
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