I AM NEITHER ENDORSING NOR DENOUNCING ANY PARTICULAR PARTY (with the possible exception of the Whig Party but only because that name sounds like a fiesta for creepy bugs that hang around ears.) Get beyond the first paragraph below and hopefully you will see I am neither blue nor red tinted – just a neutral sort of pasty beige.
Despite my being wary of writing so soon after my last blog, since this will set an unrealistic precedent when it comes to my blogging discipline, I woke up this morning still angered by Tuesday’s election results and couldn’t help but vent about it here.
How I wish I was referring to the vote of Willy Wonka as most horrifying movie of all time. Or referencing the David Tennant/Doctor Who replacement election of ‘08. Incidentally, despite my initial misgivings about Matt Smith’s Doctor, I think he’s done a fine job even though I do think this past series wasn’t up to snuff…but I shall save this diatribe for another day. No I’m actually talking about real life political voting that took place for many Americans this past Tuesday, November 2, 2010.
Now I am going to do my best to keep my own political leanings out of it because truly this is not the point of what I’m about to say. What I am writing to complain about is the astronomical laziness on the part of our citizens to do their civic duty. Yes there was a huge turnout for a non-presidential year vote but just showing up unprepared to make conscientious choices is sort of like showing up at a gym, not doing any exercises and then complaining when you don’t see the results you expected. Seriously if you bothered to make the trip to the gym, why not do a pushup; likewise, if you’ve bothered to stand in line at your polling location for an hour, why not spend a modicum of prep time to know who you’re voting for before you cast your ballot?
There is simply no reason to vote straight ticket ever. Ever.
I know a lot of people out there are angered about the economy and unemployment and put the blame on every single incumbent; but the angry people are forgetting that many of those incumbents got their jobs after that last big election when “the other side” voted straight ticket in the same sort of misguided, knee-jerk reaction. It didn’t make sense then and it doesn’t make sense now; especially when you consider the fact that party politics shouldn’t even be an issue MOST of the time. Now before you start thinking I’ve gone off my meds by suggesting politics has no place in the election process, let me clarify the fact that when you’re electing judges, the last thing you should be considering is political agendas.
If your county is anything like mine, there were only fourteen offices up for grabs that dealt with decision-making that might be objectionable to one party or another. The rest of the seventy-three openings (yes 73) were for judges. And while I’m not naïve to think that justices never have political leanings, the bottom line is if these people are doing their job correctly you shouldn’t be noticing which direction they lean. In fact when I was doing my own research, I immediately took points off from candidates who answered their lifelong commitment to whatever party as the primary reason to why they should be elected.
The American Bar Association has this thing called the Code of Judicial Conduct which basically boils down to five rules governing the conduct of judges while they serve in their professional capacity. The first four rules have phrases like “integrity and independence,” “avoid impropriety,” “perform impartiality,” “minimize risk of conflict,” with the fifth one stating outright: “A judge or judicial candidate shall refrain from inappropriate political activity.” So it seems to me that every judicial candidate should be immediately discounted when their platform focus is party devotion rather than expertise in lawful and unbiased decision-making.
Anyone who’s watched Law & Order knows how important lawful and unbiased decision-making is. How many times did you see Sam Waterson give that shocked, “I just ate what” sort of expression whenever he’s repulsed by a judge’s blatantly prejudicial ruling.
I’m still perplexed as to why party membership is mentioned at all in judicial elections. But because it is and because of those dang straight ticket voters, there have been at least four (again in my county alone) extremely capable judges ousted while three coming in that have been cited for misconduct on numerous occasions. It’s not like we don’t have easy access to candidate info. You don’t have to go to a courthouse and scroll over every judicial ruling made by a particular candidate.You can, however, go to your local bar association’s web site and see judge ratings. Another great site is Courthouse Forum, where the general public, in addition to attorneys, can candidly post info and opinions about various local judicial issues and interaction. RateTheCourts.com gives you access to nearly 30,000 anonymous evaluation surveys of the nation's judges and judicial nominees. And while Project Vote Smart doesn’t have info on district judges, they do have vital non-partisan info regarding appellate and state Supreme Court candidates.
See, doing your homework isn’t that hard. Considering the fact that the right to vote is considered the single most important right granted to any American citizen (just ask any naturalized US citizen), people should take the entire voting process more seriously than just showing up, pressing one button and calling it a day. That’s kind of like cheating off of one guy’s test only to discover later he got a lot of answers wrong. Perhaps if we all spent the amount of time it takes to watch a few Law & Order reruns on doing a bit of diligent research, we could all become better citizens and feel happier with our decisions.
