SECRET VOTES: SCHOOL, SAFETY, HEALTH CARE

During election years voters pick their horse, their favorite.

No secret votes at the start.

If they turn out they way they say they’ll turn out, good job in the ballot box.

If they don’t they have a built in excuse: “I’m the lesser of two evils.”

No one runs a campaign based on being the less of two evils.

Imagine the ad: “Vote me because the other guy sucks worse than I do, and I’m a big loser to start with.”

Who fills in that little circle with black or blue ink?

To help us make up our minds they saddle up the old fears on the old war horses of Education, Law and Order, and Health Care.

All three hit harder at different ages. Secret votes no longer a secret?

Education secret votes

In a state like Oregon with a track record in education hardly any other American state wants, wouldn’t any candidate shouting about learning gather an audience?

So here comes the education candidate angling for your vote, my vote, every vote.

They’ve got the song and dance down. Everyone in the audience knows the steps.

Young people in school have their candidate. Young parents with kids in school have their candidate. Old people with no kids in school listen hard.

The education candidate wins a seat then uses education to explain their vote on budget cuts to education. At least their constituents understand the sleight of hand. Sort of.

The smart vote looks for the candidate who values education, not as a tool in electoral politics, but a step up in the right direction.

Budget talk takes aim at education? Is it a cheap shot by scoundrels, or a real decline in learning?

North Carolina for example:

Distributing black North Carolinians equally across all districts would, given the racial polarization of voting then prevalent, have likely resulted in districts sending 12 white representatives to Congress. On the other hand, cramming most into two serpentine districts destroyed the idea that each congressman represents a discrete geographic community. The lines of the 12th district, like those of the 1st (the brown inkblot in the eastern part of the map) were not contiguous with any one region, but built to capture the members of one race and separate them from the other, elevating race over all other factors. As Justice O’Connor put it,

A reapportionment plan that includes in one district individuals who belong to the same race, but who are otherwise widely separated by geographical and political boundaries, and who may have little in common with one another but the color of their skin, bears an uncomfortable resemblance to political apartheid.

Public Safety Secret Votes

If state government follows the failed education model, and re-election is up for grabs, the sharp candidate raises their law and order flag.

“No only will my opponent gut education in this great state, they will turn under-educated people lose in the community with less law and order.”

Anytime budget cuts include a reduced police force it’s time for a new gun purchase?

The only fear greater than morons running wild is watching them grow up and assume responsible lives.

Older people see the trends and live in their special fear. A noise in the yard, in the garage, on the roof? Call the police or lock and load ol’ Betsy, the extended mag assault rifle with an optical night vision scope you bought at a gun show?

Why the scope: In case a home invader starts on your neighbors roof. Come on. Bring it.

According to the news you watch on Fox the only thing standing between you and the anarchists trying to set your car on fire is a sweet semi-auto you strap on to relax. And your long rifle.

You’ve got law and order right there, and all of the papers that say you know what you’re doing.

If you had joined the Army like you wished you’d done you couldn’t be better prepared.

Being a sensible person you lock and load to avoid an mental confrontation between you a jumpy cop who dropped out with a GED.

Besides, you voted for the law and order candidate. You expect law and order, not a congressional vote to cut the law enforcement budget.

How did that slip by?

Health Care Secret Votes

All ages need health care. Kids growing up, adults growing older, young people starting their family. The Lion King called is the Circle Of Life.

Health insurance is key to health care access. You pay insurance premiums, out of pocket deductions, co-pay costs, and your insurance pays the rest.

In days past you paid for insurance and that was that. Some advanced countries carry state paid health insurance.

Not America. When there’s so much money in play, with so many willing to pay to save their life, their kids’ lives, it turns into a new game with new rules.

The old rules: Get sick, see a doctor, get better.

The new rules: Get sick, call insurance for pre-approval, see a doctor, get referred to an out-of-network specialist, forget to call insurance for pre-approval in your panic, get a series of medications at astronomical prices, open an envelope of Explanation Of Benefits to discover you owe more money than your car’s worth. Maybe your house.

Secret Votes: why voting in elections matter

If you went to college on loans, either paid back or paying back, then you’ve got skin in the game.

You’re smart enough to pick the bullshitter out of a line up.

Is it the rich lady promoting private education values and leaving public education behind?

The fire breathing change agent who fat shames others to avoid being fat shamed himself?

Or the brave Army general with too many connections to hostile nations interested in arms deals?

If you picked none of the above you just graduated magna cum laude.

The right vote for big office is one of trust that the person on the ballot believes what they say and leads a group of smart people on the same page.

Vote a screw up into office and their coattails will carry more screw ups who jump on every crumb that drops from the Screw Up In Chief.

Smart wins over expedient in the long run. Too much history ends with, “What the hell were they thinking?”

Well, what’s your answer?