Okay, I'll vote for John Kerry, obviously. And I'll be voting for Elaine King Miller for State Senator. And I'll vote for Abe Lopez for District Judge. And I'll certainly vote for kick-butt Dean Dozen candidate David Van Os for Texas Supreme Court.
But several of the races in this godforsaken part of the world feature Republicans running unopposed. And some of those Republicans say things like this:
Gays & Lesbians have taken over Washington. They even infiltrate the offices of the Congressmen. Some of the Congressmen told me with tears in their eyes of how women had been hired to seduce the Christian Congressmen so they could be caught in compromising situations. They also shared how money would show up in unmarked envelopes to get them to vote in favor of Gay & Lesbian agendas...
That's Rev. Joe Kirkwood, running for County Commissioner in Precinct Three of my county. And Mike Shumate, running unopposed for Sheriff of Potter County, first came to public attention in a series of ads for Crimestoppers in which he openly mocked the Bill of Rights:
Some people think Crimestoppers uses methods like airborne surveillance, hidden cameras, and their own neighbors turning them in . . . well, maybe we do (my transcription, from memory).
I won't bubble in the circles next to these dudes' names. I haven't voted for a Republican since at least 1998, and I won't start this year. I'm certainly no hero for taking this stance. It's the fault of all local Democrats, myself included, that we don't have a choice in these races. Howard Dean's Election Day column comments on something I've often said in response to the clichéd "if you don't vote you can't complain." Voting takes no heroic effort. True participatory democracy requires more:
On an A - F scale, voting gets a "D". It is the bare minimum required to keep our democracy alive. To grow and thrive, ordinary Americans need to run for office.
It's all of our faults that we'll be stuck with Joe Kirkwood, et al. Even though I abstain from voting in those races I won't feel guilty about complaining. But I challenge myself and all other local Democrats to find someone to run in those races next time.
SPACEDARK
|