Candidates should campaign on their merits only
It seems like we’ll never be free from being bombarded by TV commercials, robot, AKA robo, calls and outdoor signs for political candidates. No sooner is one election over, then the whole process starts all over again. Candidates are already gearing up for the 2020 presidential election. Rallies are starting up. People are campaigning door to door. Staffers for candidates are asking for you to put their political signs in your yard. It never ends.
I guess it wouldn’t be so bad if candidates were permitted to run their platform only on their merits. But no, there has to be mudslinging and name calling. Each and every adult-if we were being one hundred percent honest with ourselves and we looked back at our youth, would find that we all have skeletons in our closets. They may not be something major, but we all have them. No one growing up figured that one day they were going to run for city council, mayor, senator or the president of United States.
Who cared if they smoked a little weed? Who cared if they kiss a non-related pretty lady? Who cared if they acted on a dare and stole a candy bar? Back in the day, we were much less politically correct and so much more tolerant. We were more forgiving and more accepting. The bible says let he who is without sin cast the first stone. I don’t know of anyone who is completely blameless that could cast that first stone. Why do candidates find it necessary to dig up every little piece of dirt or indiscretion on their opponent? Are they that insecure?
Let me ask you this: would you rather get to know the person running based on what he/she stands for or even what his voting record is? Or would you rather want to know that when he was fifteen, he stole something from the local convenience store or got mad at the neighborhood bully and puncture his bicycle tire? Personally, I would rather know what good a candidate is planning to do. I want to know not only his goals but how he plans to achieve them. I would like to know if he has been successful in other undertakings. I would like to know how he has voted in the past. I would like to know about his family and his job performance. I would like for my candidate to be transparent. And if he has skeletons, I would hope he explain about them.
Hopefully as campaigning continues for the November general election and gears up for the 2020 primaries and presidential election, candidates will remember to bring out the good points about themselves instead of finger-pointing bad points about their opponents. I cannot respect someone who does nothing but bad mouth someone else. It just makes me wonder what he is hiding by making so much noise about the other candidate.
I hope they will show us what they plan to do to change the direction of hunger, homelessness, and poverty in our country. Explain how you plan to help the disabled and the elderly and increase support for our veterans. They are the people who offered to give their lives so that you can stand up for them. Show us how you plan to curb racism and indifference. Show us how you plan to make America proud again.
That being said, prepare yourself now for the next onslaught of robo calls, political surveys, yard signs and unwanted mailings. May the next man or woman who claims victory be someone who stands by their promises and remembers the little people who support them.
Kathy Bartolotta
Resident of Tower Hill Two
Kathy Bartolotta is a resident of Tower Hill Two.