The Stoopid Season

I used to look forward to election season the same way I looked forward to the World Series. It was always fun to watch democracy in action as candidates competed for votes. They have pretty much spoiled that for me. We are beset with bigots and idiots running for office to do the work of the people. Case in point - what am I to do in the South Carolina race for the US Senate? On the one hand you have Jim Demint, or as I like to call him, Jim Deminted. I believe may be a bigot and I know he is a demagogue. His remarks last week and gays being allowed to teach indicate that he is the former. His claims that those are his personal feelings do not change the fact that he is a public figure, a US Senator, and his words and attitudes have public repercussions.

As to the latter, he publicly states that he will work for the failure of the elected president so that his party can regain power. Personally, I still pull for all presidents to succeed, because if they do, the country succeeds. That tells me that he is more interested in campaigning effectively than in governing effectively. Their recent track record includes running local, state, and federal governments into the ground in some kind of ideological race to incompetence.

In contrast, his opponent is apparently interested in neither strategy. Alvin Greene is an idiot. He wins the nomination of his party, as telling about the party as about himself. His opponent in the primary was a legitimate candidate and a member of the General Assembly. To be sure, he would have lost to Demint too, had he been nominated. Greene does not campaign and does not like to answer questions from the media. He suggested making bobble-heads of himself as a fiscal strategy. The real deal is bobble-headed enough. He was recently indicted for showing pornography to an underage student. He was asked to leave a meeting of the party here in Seneca, but the police had to be called to make it happen. At a recent event elsewhere, he sat by himself and did not speak to the gathering. He is as poor a candidate as anyone can be. There is no doubt in my mind that he would be just as poor a US Senator. What to do?

It's clear to me that I must hold my nose and vote for Demint. I considered not voting for either, but that is not a real option. I can't, in good conscience vote for Alvin Greene. I do not believe him to be competent enough to do the job. So there you have it. My left-handed, back-handed, and upside down endorsement of Jim Demint. Lord have mercy on us all.