Flashes of Panic

This has certainly been a delicious political season for those who enjoy that sort of thing. I’ve read a lot of impassioned arguments in favor of one candidate or another, but I’ve also read a remarkable number of people saying, “I know this is really important, and I just can’t decide how to vote.”

(I was amused to discover, using the electoral compass, that Ron Paul was third on my ordered list of candidates closest to my personal beliefs, but given that they only recognize six remaining candidates, I suppose that doesn’t mean much.)

I wonder if the rampant undecidedness has much to do with fact that so many states are actually holding primaries while there’s still some contest for both parties’ nominations. This is the first time in my voting lifetime (this will be my fifth presidential election) that I’ve had the opportunity to vote in a primary that meant something. While I think the telescoping of the nomination process is a good thing—I wouldn’t mind seeing a single, national primary on one day—I wish it might be a little closer to the general election. (Maybe a six-week gap, max, between that national primary and the general election?)

And I wonder if the ability to examine candidates critically, rather than in red-party/blue-party duality, has atrophied in some of these electorally-big states like New York and Massachusetts. We’re so used to having candidates delivered to us by the parties—if you’re Red, get behind this guy, Blue, go this way—that we’re not used to considering our positions carefully.

So, I’m all in favor of contested primaries. I expect I’ll still be voting for the politician I dislike least in the end, and I don’t doubt which direction this state’s electoral votes will go in the general election, but somehow the existence of a primary which isn’t pointless makes me feel oddly hopeful.

Now Playing: The Day I Let Glory Steer from This Town Is Wrong by Nerissa & Katryna Nields

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