mail@davemoral.es

We are now, basically, one week out from the 2010 Midterm and wanted to jot down some thoughts on how things have played out.

As is often the case in elections I find myself disenchanted and frustrated with the choices in front of me. I have the misfortune to live in a Congressional district that is, for all intents and purposes, non-competitive. Eighteen years ago, in the aftermath of the 1990 census a majority-minority district was created in the Commonwealth of Virginia for the first time. What resulted was a “safe” district for Democrats (based on demographics and historical voting trends). Our congressman has run un-opposed for five of the past six elections. This year, while there is (on paper) a qualified challenger, a vote for this alternative is nothing more than a symbolic vote in opposition.

My views on the national stage are no more promising. I look across the political landscape and I see a lot of anger, but emotion that has gestated extremism. I shudder at the thought of Members of Congress, in the 21st century, serving who reject a separation of Church and State. “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Straightforward, and yet we have a slew of political hacks that are running on a moralist crusade to “get our country back”. These same aspirants harbor a desire to erect the Ten Commandments in every classroom. This nation was founded on the principles of dissent and pluralism and yet I note a sea of myopic pols with warped definitions of tolerance and freedom.

Then we come to the extremism articulated by Texan and Nevadan politicians recently who feel that open rebellion is “on the table”. Elections matter, you, candidate X, voter Y are one voice in a sea of 310 million Americans. You get one vote, I get one vote, and my neighbor gets one vote. If you don’t like whom a majority elects, tough. Try again. Justice is not found at the end of a gun, fascism is.

I am transformed into a disenchanted voter and citizen, irritated at the ignorance, anger and hate I see. An enormous percentage of my fellow citizens find their President, elected by the people of this great nation, to be some form of wolf in sheep’s clothing. Repeat after me: the President is not a secret Muslim. The President is not the Manchurian Candidate. I was not a child of the Civil Rights era and the segregated South but can’t help but see the furor and vitriol of recent years through the lenses of deep-seated classism and ethnocentrism.

Where did civility go? Where did the element of compromise go? Government and society functions best through dialog, restraint and compromise. I am a proud centrist Independent with few leaders to peg my hopes and ambitions on.