The Quandary Of Politics

Tomorrow is Pennsylvania's Democratic primary to select a candidate to face Tom Corbett in the upcoming Gubernatorial election. There have been numerous debates, the money has been spent, the ads have been run, all that is left is to determine who it will be. The overwhelming favorite is Tom Wolf, a prominent businessman and former PA Revenue Secretary. With Governor Corbett having a truly miserable first term he is perhaps the most vulnerable Governor up for re-election this year, so the choice is not merely one of who to throw to the wolves. The winner tomorrow will have the rare opportunity to unseat an incumbent.

The candidates, however, have not exactly covered themselves with glory. There is little to distinguish one from another. Inevitably, with nothing to disagree on, they have turned on each other. Mr. Wolf has "loaned" himself $6 million for his campaign, which in politics is red meat. He has been accused of trying to buy the office, an accusation that on the face of it seems to be true but for the fact that all of the other candidates have been trying to do the same. As money is the mother's milk of politics, the winner typically ends up being the biggest spender, and if the other candidates had the means to toss that kind of money around they would certainly be doing so.

The other big accusation thrown out came courtesy of Rob McCord, current Pennsylvania Treasurer. He accused Wolf of supporting Charlie Robertson, disgraced former mayor of York. Several years ago Robertson was chased from office when his role in the York race riot of 1969 was exposed. He incited people to riot with chants of "White Power!" and told police officers to "kill all the n_____ you can!", something made even more egregious by the fact that he was a police officer himself. He was later arraigned for the murder of Lillie Belle Allen and ultimately acquitted. As a result of these revelations he did not stand for re-election. Wolf claimed that he counseled Robertson not to stand for re-election and to leave quietly. That this would come out during the Democratic primary isn't surprising, because Democrats, being the party that champions minorities and minority issues, are absurdly sensitive to any accusation of racism. Mr. Wolf surely lost some votes on that issue.

The last accusation is a minor one, again against Mr. Wolf. U.S. Representative Allyson Schwartz has asserted that she has the experience in government and that he is unqualified to be Governor because he lacks her level of expertise. I suppose we could look at the current Congressional approval ratings to gain insight into her experience and ability to get things done, but ultimately this is a somewhat petty complaint. Surely Rep. Schwartz wasn't the expert she now claims to be when she was first elected, and rather than condemning Wolf it actually undermines her own campaign as she is being dominated by a political neophyte.

You will note that each of these accusations were hurled at the front-runner. I suppose it makes sense that it would be this way, as the only way to win is to knock the top dog off his perch, and picking on backmarkers like Katie McGinty won't accomplish anything. Still, the nature of the accusations go a long way to demonstrating something I have long observed, as follows:

The candidates that we are given to choose from are self-selecting. Nobody is compelled to run for office, every one of them run of their own accord. Virtually all of them come from money and/or successful careers, most have professional degrees, and most of them are outwardly nice people. Yet they think they know what we need and are willing to spend untold millions in their quest for elected office. They put their families through the wringer, they expose their children to criticism, their every action is put out for everyone to see.

These are not actions of normal people. These are actions of people with massive egos that need to be fed. They attack each other, they claim that they have the answers, and by the way, won't you please vote for me? If I came to you and told you that you are doing everything wrong and that you should not only give me a hearing but obey my wishes you'd look at me like I was crazy. Yet isn't that exactly what politicians do? These are people you wouldn't willingly invite into your home under any other circumstances, but you would seat them into positions of power and allow them to influence your lives.

Additionally, we decry money in politics, yet were I to run for office the only votes I would get are my own and (maybe) my wife's. We measure suitability by success, and we measure success by money. We can't understand why rich people with no understanding of our plight are the only people that run for office. The simple fact is that the average person wishes to live a modest, quiet life, wanting for little more than security and perhaps a modest amount of comfort. They have no desire to expose themselves to endless humiliation. The rich have no such aversion, simply because if it all goes wrong they're still rich. They have less to lose. They are shameless.

Remember when you vote that the person you're voting for doesn't know you, doesn't care about you, and would sell you out if it would net them two other voters. What do you matter? You won't vote for them anyway! Yet you vote, because the other party's candidate would really stick it to you if you didn't. So you vote for the lesser of the two evils because there's simply no other choice.

What a quandary we find ourselves in.