Hasta La Vista Respect

Last night we were watching the European edition of CNN, and they were reporting on the governor’s race in California. A British correspondent had been sent to California to cover it, and the man was loving every minute of it. The circus that is American elections had him practically hysterical. I think he may have been trying to impress Hollywood with his theatrics. But who can blame him? The story he was covering should have been on Saturday Night Live, not CNN. It’s hard to practice serious journalism when the story is ridiculous. The Terminator vs. a man that looks like a mole. A state that has an economy bigger than the national economies of most countries in the world, and this is the choice we get???

What will America come up with next? God forbid we ever elect someone with real ideas, someone who has a clue about how the majority of Americans live. I have my absentee ballot for the Kentucky gubernatorial race sitting here on my desk. I’ve filled out most of it, but I haven’t chosen who I’m voting for governor. Do I choose the man who thinks that education should be financed through gambling? Or do I choose the man whose slogan is “Restoring Hope,” as if we’re all so destitute that we’ve lost the only thing left in Pandora’s box? And who should I elect to be attorney general…the man with the drug problems, the man who was charged with arson, or the man who doesn’t pay his child support? Such choices. Free elections – the basis of democracy. Yet without a single worthwhile candidate on the ballot how strong is our democracy?

We need smart people to run for office. People with strong ethics and broad visions. We have these people in America. I know them. They are teachers, small business owners, farmers, stay at home parents. They are my friends, my family, my colleagues, and my neighbors. They know what it is to be an average American. They’d do a fine job of representing me. The problem is the small print. How free are elections when the campaigns are multi-million dollar affairs? Don’t even begin to tell me that you can’t buy votes.

I can’t wait to tune into CNN tonight to watch the anchor try to compose herself when they return to the studio after the report on the Terminator’s victory. I love watching the world laugh at us. I’d laugh too…except I’m afraid I might end up crying.