As Races Wind Down, It's In the Voters' Hands

As the 2009 campaigns here in Virginia near the finish line, all of the power now shifts to the commonwealth’s voters.

It will be the individual voter, standing quietly in the privacy of the ballot booth, studying the choices before him, who finally will now have a say in the fates of those seeking political office.

In a democracy, that’s how it should be.

But just how healthy is our American democracy? That’s a question, a doubt, a fear lurking in the backs of the minds of a lot of Americans these days.

And it’s a legitimate fear.

Politics has always been a tough business in this country, and in any nation, for that matter, that ultimately trusts its citizens with the ultimate of the ballot box to hold over their elected officials.

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Hard-fought election campaign battles have been a part of this nation’s history almost from its founding. That’s how it is in a democracy in which the public is trusted with the power of the ballot. Politicians and minions have always run hard-hitting campaigns against their ideological and philosophical opponents.

For proof, just study the public careers of such leaders as Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln and a host of other state and national figures.

But what is different today is how pervasive the negative tenor of modern politics has become in our society.

With the 24-hour news cycle and the instantaneousness of the Internet, information flashes around the globe and into our living rooms in the blink of an eye.

We thrive on something new ... the latest scandal, the latest political gaffe, the latest conspiracy theory to explain our nation’s challenges and problems.

We want our information presented in such a way so as to affirm our preconceptions and already-determined positions, rather than to inform our decisions and shine light on our doubts.

Just look no further than liberals who prefer to get their “news” from MSNBC and their information filtered through the mind, such as it is, of a Keith Olbermann or a Rachel Maddow. And just as problematically, there are conservatives who only want their worldviews shored up by Fox News and their news delivered and reported by the likes of Bill O’Reilly or Glenn Beck.

They are all, every last one of them, a threat to the longterm survival and viability of this republic.

Voters who care — about the nation, about the challenges we face, about finding equitable solutions to the health care reform, economic recovery, the war against terrorism, the problem of the federal debt — are sick to death of the toxic political smog that hangs over America today.

They are sick of politicians and for-hire campaign hacks who play “gotcha” politics and are more in love with the game and bloodsport of politics than with the concept of public service.

They are tired of the character assassination that’s common in campaigns today. They are tired of gangs of hired guns lobbing missiles of misinformation and outright lies into each other’s camps, all in the name of winning an election.

Average Americans are just plain sick and tired of politics as usual.

Are we sick enough to show up at the polls Tuesday to reward the candidates who honored us with the quality of their campaigns and render a verdict on the campaigns that cheapened our society and coarsened our culture?

Who knows. But the tipping point for the silent, civil majority in this nation is fast approaching.