The primary election for the Republican party for Utah’s Third Congressional District is creating rising tensions among voters and advocates of various viewpoints that favor one candidate over another. This is also true of the other offices that will be up for grabs on the November 7 ballot.
It is a difficult time. In my life, election time has always seemed difficult, because it is, in a way, like getting married. Except if you want a divorce from the person you voted for, it takes the input of others rather that just you and the elected official to get it accomplished. And later, even if you really like the person, others who vote differently can annul the pact.
This stuff is serious, but it can also be comical. Nothing better than to have a good laugh about something you are worried about. Politics is a strange business, especially when it comes to voters. Going back to the marriage thing, when a person gets married some get the exact thing they wanted all along, or at least they seem to. Some settle for a little less, some for a lot less. Regardless of which category people are in, we all put up with things from our spouse that are irritating at times. Just ask my wife.
So we realize in the case of getting hitched, that no one is perfect. Yet when we want to select a political candidate, we want the “perfect” person. In other words we are often more choosy about who we vote for than we are about who we marry. Is that funny or what?
I often hear people talk about our divided nation and how it is so much worse than it has ever been. But go back in history and look. There have been a lot of divisive times and at least one that was way worse than today- the Civil War.
Of course Donald Trump stated, not long ago, that he thinks they should have been able to work that out. Well maybe (though I doubt it) but when Abraham Lincoln was elected he was divisive; his very presence in the White House was the end of the world to some. And the American nation, did for a time looked like it would not survive.
Many presidents have been elected without majority support. As for the men that are replaced, most aren’t completely happy about it, but in time they often become friends with those who defeated them. Just look at the first President Bush and Bill Clinton. I have seen them parading around with each other a number of times in years past.
But some ex-Presidents did not take loss to well. In fact, Herbert Hoover did not say one word on his final ride as president when he was with Franklin Roosevelt just before Roosevelt’s inauguration in 1932. After he was out as chief executive of the nation, he worked diligently to defeat everything that Roosevelt wanted to do. Most presidents however, go out with grace, probably happy that someone else has the weight of a nation on their shoulders, as well as being ready for a good long rest.
But we voters, we as citizens are ever critical of our leaders, and we need to be. I have voted for a lot of people I have liked and whose views have fit me in the past. But I never loved any of them. They all had their flaws as far as I was concerned. I have never found anyone in any party- or even an independent- who I agreed with on all of the issues. Some came close to being loved, even with their imperfections, but I was never taken by the pomp and circumstance politicians surround themselves with.
In my job at the newspaper over the years, where I served first as a reporter then the publisher, I met a lot more politicians in a month than I had ever personally greeted in all the years before the Sun Advocate experience. Writing stories about them, I tried to be neutral, even if I really liked them or disliked them. I met some that from a distance I didn’t like, but once I got to know them, I changed my mind. However, whether I like someone or not is not the key to voting. It is, however, how they stand on issues that I feel are important to the country, state, county and city. I have often voted against people I personally liked who were the complete opposite of me when it came to the things that I wanted out of an elected official. It’s like having a brother who says he can fix your computer, but you know he can’t. Instead you take it to someone reputable. It doesn’t mean a loss of brotherly love, just a little bit of brotherly trust.
So take voting seriously, know who you are voting for and why, but don’t let it define you.
Election time is like choosing the perfect spouse
Richard Shaw