Apparently the process towards next November's election day began this past week with the start of the "primaries." I'll admit that until "The West Wing" came along, I had practically no idea how the guys that showed up on the presidential ballots got there. And then I grew a small interest in that show because of the Beatnik's mom. The public library began carrying "The West Wing" DVDs and I got hooked. That's where my education on our nations political system came from. I realize something thinking back over Jed Bartlett's campaigns and the final campaign between Jimmy Smit and Alan Alda's characters and comparing them to this year's election: We don't have the same information input from the real candidates that we did for "The West Wing" candidates. I don't mean positions on health-care, education, or the workforce but rather the kind of person that the candidates are and if we feel they can accomplish what they claim.
It's one thing to know a person based on positions and plans for their execution; it's another to get to know someone as the person they are and get a feel for how they will work with the hundreds of different people they will have to get along with. I'm not saying to make it a popularity contest and vote for the one who gets their face shown the most (as I believe presidential elections are right now) . I'm saying to talk to the people who ask for your vote. Get to know them like you know your friends. And then come to a decision about how he/she will interact with other people. Because a job in politics boils down to just that--interacting with other people. And it doesn't matter how many plans a candidate makes up or how much money they have; without the charisma and force to convince other politicians to see his or her way, nothing will happen.
Now if only there weren't three hundred million people in this country for each candidate to become good friends with...
No comments:
Post a Comment