Don’t let the political mud darken your view of voting

Published 9:00 pm Sunday, November 5, 2006

Habits.

I have many.

I sleep on my right side and always on the left side of (as you face it) the bed. Weekdays I’m up at 6:40 a.m. and always shave after I’m dressed. I end up with a bit of soap on my collar, but I’ve been doing this since I found that first whisker under my nose. Haven’t found a reason to change.

Once downstairs, I start the coffee and let the cat in. Always in that order.

I read the paper back to front – go figure – and I’m off to work.

A word or two about mornings.

Despite the best efforts of a Catholic seminary in Louisiana, a military college in Maryland and a career in uniform, I’ve never understood the need for my presence at sunrise.

According to the best information available, that sun’s been coming up for about 4 billion years without me and will likely continue doing so after I’m gone. It doesn’t need me. Never has. Never will. Weekends, therefore, start at about the crack of 9 and are generally devoted to doing what needs to be done to keep our house in reasonable shape.

That last may be more of a “sentence” than a habit, but I think you understand.

This week, though, we’re about to come up on a habit that I share with many of you.

Voting.

I’m neither a Republican nor (as you might suspect) could I ever be considered a Democrat. The liberal/conservative label doesn’t always work very well on me, either. Like most people, some of my beliefs tend to cross those lines more often than the rigid definitions of those terms allow.

My voting habits can be tough to describe. My wife often offers the term “irrational,” but that’s only because I wrote in Anwar Sadat’s name on my presidential ballot in 1980. I had to. He was the only individual on the world stage saying out loud that the Ayatollah Khomeini was a nut. You gotta go with someone like that.

Basically, though, I look for candidates who present reasoned ideas in a reasoned manner. Lately, however, it’s been tough to find such people. Campaign ads aren’t much help because most of them aren’t about ideas any more

Generally, it seems we’ve reached the point where “Candidate A” is basically willing to say that “Candidate B” would push your arthritic, blind, wheelchair-bound grandmother off a cliff, but only after he’d taken all of her food money to spend on a lap dance.

“Candidate B” then roundly denies this and fires back that “Candidate A” never had a grandmother and, if he did, she’d have to have been married to Beelzebub to spawn someone like him.

Bad theater is about all it is.

Still, I keep looking for those who understand that money is tough to come by and shouldn’t be spent on some gawdawful project whose only reason for existence is the repayment of favors previously granted.

I’m looking for individuals who believe that people shouldn’t walk into a hospital wondering if their life savings will cover the visit. Who think that government shouldn’t be the size that it is. Who want an energy policy that makes us independent. Who know that a multi-trillion dollar debt isn’t a good thing. Who believe we’d better dig into this Social Security mess soon. Who know that right and wrong are, indeed, fixed reference points. Who think that borders define a nation and if they’re not protected, then what the hell’s the point.

I’m looking for people whose allegiance is to the Constitution and not to a political party or whoever walks through the door with the most money in hand. People who disagree but believe that honest debate isn’t a bad thing. People who know that criminals need to be dealt with and any attempt at “understanding” them can start after they’ve been locked away for a decade or two.

On the international level, I’m looking for people who know we need friends. People who won’t walk into a war at the drop of a hat but who understand that “Kumbaya” isn’t a strategic defense system. People who won’t blink while telling some group that wants us all dead that we’re darned good at making large craters in the earth.

Unfortunately, it seems that neither political party has a stable of such individuals.

Still, we need to find them.

Voting. Tough habit to break once you’ve done it a time or two.

Start this week if you haven’t already. We need more help out here.

Larry Simoneaux lives in Edmonds. Comments can be sent to larrysim@att.net.