Quick question:
What do you suppose motivates those individuals who decide which candidates in an election are endorsed by the local political party?
Possible answers include:
a) Favors owed
b) Ability to raise money for the party
c) Blind adherence to strict party ideology
d) Ethnicity & family connections
e) All of the Above
In northeastern Pennsylvania, at least in my experience, the answer is "e".
By the way, it doesn't matter which party is doing the endorsing either.
Simply put, I would think/hope/pray that, in 2015, we would have moved beyond a cabal of political insiders telling us who to vote for in elections. But yet that isn't the case. Just a few weeks ago I saw a Facebook posting about the "Endorsed ________ Party Candidates!" that caught my eye. I have seen a long history of local political party types endorsing people for elected office that should likely be in jail or a mental asylum, not an elected office. Case in point: Just how many "Party Endorsements" did Bob Mellow get over the years? Hmmm, that one didn't work out so well, now did it? Oh and please, Convict Mellow's shenanigans were a not so well kept secret for years (Case in point: his sitting on Boards of Directors for industries that he had a hand in regulating).
Newsflash #1: Party officials are looking out for the party (hence the word "Party"), not for the population in general. Given a conflict between what is best for the party and what is best for the population in general, the party always wins. I could site numerous examples, but I don't want to engage in indirect campaigning for anyone.
Newsflash #2: On what planet would it otherwise be acceptable for adult human being to be told what to do when it comes to deciding on who will get to tax the living bejesus out of us? Heck, this is America where we HATE being told what to do...apparently except for when it comes to electing the folks who spend our tax dollars.
Given two more or less equal candidates, I will always vote for the individual who HAS NOT received a party endorsement, as maybe, at least, that person has an ever-so-slight streak of independence and may not be as beholden to the insiders that run local politics.
Do yourself a favor: Shun, mock, avoid those who actively seek party endorsements and the back-slapping, back-room dealing that goes with them.
1 comment:
I tend to agree with you. It's one of the reasons I accepted a position in the Democratic Party of Scranton. We held our endorsements, I researched candidates, and voted for who I thought would do the best job. Not everybody in the process is awful!
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