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I
have been told before that I have jumped out of the frying pan into the
fire. We all have probably heard or been told that before. Of course,
there is no frying pan and no fire. That is just a phrase that indicates
that we have escaped one situation only to find ourselves in a much
worse situation. Sadly the process can be repeated over and over.
I
have these kinds of thoughts running through my head after each election
is finally over. I use the words "finally over" because by the
time the elections come and go, the average voter has already endured
more than they thought they could possibly stand.
Then
as we breathe a sigh of relief, a haunting thought comes to mind. Is it
finally over or just beginning? After all, those guys and gals who ran
all those smearing, mud-slinging ads that we got so tired of seeing and
hearing are the people that we will look to for leadership and guidance
for the next four years. Not a comforting thought, is it?
While
the mud slinging and disparaging remarks are a big turnoff, it seems to
me that the real turnoff is that many of these ads intended to convince
us to vote for them are actually an insult to our intelligence. It is
like me and our dog, Sam. I can say all kinds of insulting and
threatening things to him but if I say them in a pleasant and loving
voice, he eats it up and begs for more.
It
is easy for us voters to get caught up in the hype and end up acting
just like Sam. These are a few of the things that I thought were
insulting or amusing in this year’s elections.
Mr.
or Mrs. Politician wants to be our voice in Montgomery. He or she has
someone else doing the speaking for them in the commercials. I wonder if
they don’t feel comfortable being their own voice while running for
office, how comfortable can I be about them being my voice in
Montgomery?
The
spokesperson for one candidate sounded like no less than the resurrected
Scarlett O’Hara right out of Gone With the Wind. The way she
pronounced "sin’-uh-tuh" left me foaming at the mouth to
hear her rendition of "guv’-uh-nuh."
Not
really, I would have rather said, "Frankly, Scarlett, this is just
not working for me."
Another
tactic that you will see almost every election year is labeling the
other candidate. Probably the most dreaded label that a Southern
politician can be hit with is the "L" word – LIBERAL. This
seems to be particular effective if a candidate can somehow be linked to
John Kerry, Hillary Clinton or other liberal politicians north of the
Mason-Dixon line. I wonder if politicians up there are using Bob Riley,
Jeff Sessions or Richard Shelby to smear their opponents.
One
candidate criticized his opponent for pledging to vote with those
politicians down south. Those South Alabama politicians evidently must
be relatives of John and Hillary. While criticizing his opponent for a
pledge to vote with those southerners, he repeatedly pointed out how he
was bringing home the bacon for his district. We all know that you don’t
bring home the pork without voting with others for them to get their
pork as well.
I
heard one man running for state senate pledging to bring back from
Montgomery some of the tax money sent there from his district. This
sounds like a great idea. Why hasn’t someone thought of doing this
before? I can see this fellow popping into the state treasurer’s
office with a brown paper bag and asking for it to be filled up to be
taken back home.
Another
ad I saw in the local newspaper said, "Had enough? Vote……"
It was intended to encourage voters to vote a straight ticket for all
the candidates of one party. It included all the local candidates of
that party, some of which were incumbents that I had "had
enough" of. Getting all the best-qualified people to run for office
in the same party would be the equivalent of political evolution. You’d
start with a mass of matter from an unknown source and have a huge
explosion with all the pieces falling into place in perfect order and
harmony. Don’t hold your breath.
Sam,
being a dog, is supposed to be one of those creatures deemed to be man’s
best friend. But considering how election tactics make me feel, we may
have more in common than I once thought. Who knows – Sam may even
decide to run for office himself! And if he did, I wouldn’t count him
out. After all, he is a yellow dog.
Darrell
Thompson is the Moulton store manager of Lawrence County Exchange. |
