Sadly, my candidate lost election

In the aftermath of the recent presidential election, I’ll admit that my candidate lost.

The worst part was that I knew – long before the election – that my candidate would lose.

My candidate lost because he wasn’t beholden to any Super Pac, major contributors, large corporations, lobbyists, unions, special interest groups, minorities, majorities, or religious denominations.

My candidate lost because her views didn’t change because of polls or the group she might be addressing that day. She lost because the only thing that might change her views on any topic was an idea or a plan that — no matter its source — might be demonstrably better than the ones she had.

My candidate lost because he believed in science. He understood that there were tough and complicated problems that didn’t have answers yet, but knew that the real searchers of truth were scientists. That they’d keep looking for answers even if those answers might go against what we “know” to be true.

The earth’s flat. Of course it is, until we found out that it wasn’t. The sun and stars revolve around us. Of course they do, until we discovered that they didn’t. Diseases are caused by vapors, spells, and miasmas. Of course they are until we discovered that that there were things called germs, viruses, bacteria and mutating cells.

My candidate lost because she was deadly serious about getting our nation’s spending under control. Deadly serious about finding members of both parties who were committed to fiscal responsibility and hammering out a plan that would keep us out of the poorhouse of nations.

My candidate lost because he believed that taxes were hugely unpopular but very necessary in any society that wanted police, firefighters, emergency medical responders, a military, roads, teachers, schools, public parks, national forests, and a host of other things.

My candidate lost because she believed that everyone who enjoyed any or all of the above should have to pay taxes. She lost because she didn’t believe in loopholes, special provisions, havens, dodges, or laws that are so convoluted that there isn’t a soul on the planet who could understand it all, and that the whole thing needed to be replaced with a system that could be boiled down to a few pages and written in words that could be understood by all.

My candidate lost because he believed that nations need borders and that those borders must be respected. He lost because he believed that immigration is good for us all, but that there have to be rules and those rules have to be followed — otherwise chaos ensues.

My candidate lost because she believed that, in an advanced and industrialized nation like ours, medical care should be available to every citizen – from the richest to the poorest. She lost because she understood that the treatment for many ills, ailments, diseases, and injuries has become so expensive that too many citizens cannot afford it and, therefore, there has to be a role for government in this area.

My candidate lost because he knows that government is inefficient, intrusive, bloated, wasteful, and — far too often — incompetent, uncaring, and (worst case) felonious. He lost because he wanted to thin its ranks, keep and hire only the best and brightest, fire the lost, lazy, uncaring and criminal, and constantly ask if there’s there a better, more efficient, less expensive, and common sense method of doing what we’re doing now.

My candidate lost because she believed that an American is someone who believes in the idea of equality for all — and that such an individual is not defined by religion, ethnicity, nation of origin, gender, sexual preference, and certainly not political affiliation.

My candidate lost because he believed that there’s too much money in politics, that the political system is a cesspool, and that elected officials work for us and not the other way around. He lost because he believed that holding office should be such tough work that people would serve very reluctantly and only because someone had to do it and that — for a time — they were that someone. Further, he thought that incumbents should firmly believe that the best part of their job would be turning it over to someone else at the end of one or two terms.

Ultimately, my candidate lost because “they’d” never let someone like him or her run and, if “they” did, “they’d” make darn sure he or she lost.

And that’s a problem for us all.

Larry Simoneaux lives in Edmonds. Send comments to: larrysim@comcast.net