Against or For

As the 2012 Presidential election nears, it is becoming very obvious that a significant number of voters will not be voting FOR a President.  From the polling data reported on the various political cable networks, many people of color will actually cast their ballot for the African American and against the “white” man.  By the same token, a significant number of white voters will not be voting for Romney, the “white” candidate as much as voting against Obama, the “black” candidate.  For many of the past elections, the votes against were far more important than the votes for.  What does that say about our country?  More important, what does that say about our political process.  We are living in a country today where there is a lack of inspiring politicians.  Looking at the republican primary contests, one has to wonder if the collection consisting of Romney, Gingrich, Cain, Bachmann, Santorum, Paul, Perry, Johnson, and Rohmer represented the best of potential republican presidential candidates.  Did the nomination eventually go to Romney simply because he had the ability to raise the most money?  Perhaps it was the lack of consistent positions on any policy that convinced the republican “money men” that Romney would be the candidate most malleable and most likely to accede to their demands that were tied to their political contributions.  For the past thirty years, there has been a steady decline in the numbers, the wealth, and the income earned by middle class Americans.  These citizens, the middle class, are the engine that drives our economy.  These are the people who buy the houses, the cars, the clothing, and the other products made by the manufacturers who hire the workers to make these products.  When this group shrinks rather than grows, the demand for goods and services also shrinks resulting in decreased employment, decreased economic activity, and economic recession or economic depression.  Again, for the past thirty years, many members of this middle class have voted against their best interests in order to cast a ballot against someone rather than voting for a candidate or political philosophy that would tend to favor their best interests.  Some of the time, their votes have been solicited by the use of misinformation and outright lies.  But most of the time, rather than voting for someone whose policies would best represent their interests, the votes were against one of the two candidates rather than for one of the two candidates.  We rarely decide to go see the film we would dislike the least. We rarely go to a restaurant and order the least distasteful meal on the menu.  We need to find a way to nominate candidates for political office that we are for and get away from allowing the elections of those we dislike the least.