outside the box

The headlines read “Nader campaign could hurt Kerry in Minnesota”. Over the last few months, there have been numerous stories about how Nader is hurting Kerry’s bid for the Presidency in states that are hotly contested. I’ve read stories about Blue v. Red States and Blue v. Red states of mind, analysis of how Nader affects swing voters, and diatribes urging that a vote for Nader is a vote for 43’s reelection.
 
What seems to me to be missing is a discussion of issues.
 
An issue free election is nothing new for Americans. I think we have come to expect it, if not favor it. As I said in an earlier post, we have come to enjoy the sport of politics more than the object: sound policy. Oh, we get superficial policy discussions. The kind of discussions that usually start and end with a version of Vote For Me because I support Puppy Dogs. We will get plenty of platitudes and very little rationale.
 
And the truth is, the rationale has ceased to matter for the political class. They have mastered a language that suits their purposes by helping them avoid accountability for ever having a genuine thought or passion.
 
Substance is never more filtered out of our information superhighway than it is in media coverage of third party candidates. I do not remember the last time I saw a story that actually discussed any of the Third Party or independent candidates positions on the issues, though truthfully, I haven’t looked that hard. But then, that is part of the point-the information that is most readily available to the majority of Americans discusses politics, not issues.
 
The sad truth is that we would all be better off if we spent a little time listening to the other voices out there. I am not a Green by any stretch of the imagination, but they have some ideas worth hearing, as do the Libertarians, Reformers and Progressives (surely there is a party out there somewhere touting that tried and true label). We are in such a collective hurry to cast aside candidates that are perceived as not viable, that we throw the issues baby out with the political bathwater.
 
What we need desperately is a viable third voice in our national conversation.
 
Ross Perot’s candidacy illustrated that our present deadlock might be breakable. The problem with the Reform party was not its platform, but rather its Favorite Sons (Perot and Ventura). Still, Perot demonstrated that stars get attention in our culture. It is a sad comment in our society that star-power is a prerequisite, but if we are going to get a reform minded candidate, it will not come from the two major parties and the campaign finance situation dictates that such a candidate would need instant recognition to have any hope of success. What we need is a star with their mental faculties reasonably in tact and who actually cares where we are headed as a nation.
 
I have no particular person in mind when I make this suggestion, though I would like to give a short list for the purpose of creating discussion and stimulating thought. This list is not a list of people I am advocating, but rather some that might seem plausible in the general sense of being discussed as representative of a class of individuals. I have no idea as to whether any of these would in fact exhibit The Right Stuff.
 
1) Bill Gates
2) Roger Staubach
3) Ron Howard
4) Jane Pauley
5) Charles Barkley
6) Ellen DeGeneres
7) Dennis Miller
8) Dr. Phil (McGraw)
9) John McCain (as an independent)
 
So there is some names thrown out for your consideration. Any thoughts? Anybody you think should be on the list (this Curmudgeon excepted, of course).
 
What is clear above all else to me is that the choices we face in the voting booth are really not choices at all. Our votes seem to seldom rise above the level of a vote against a person or issue, or a choice of the lesser of evils. It is my prayer that there is some genuine American out there with the resources and desire to change our destiny before we are completely lost.
 
If you are out there, please hurry. Time is short.