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Democrat, Republican, independent or other. When voting, however, and regardless of party affiliation, are politics and common sense mutually exclusive? Yes or no? Not certain? As a means to answer this conundrum, two real-life scenarios focusing on the issue of abortion are worth examining, along with a third scenario exploring voting rights. During the 2020 midterm elections in Georgia, voters were confronted with a bizarre dilemma in the race for U.
S. senator between Raphael Warnock (Democrat) and Herschel Walker (Republican). In scenario one, as a voter, your sole desire was to cast a ballot for Walker, who vehemently advocated for a total ban on all abortion procedures.
John M. Mishler is a former dean of the college and professor of biology at Delaware Valley (Pa.) College of Science and Agriculture.
He lives in Harpswell. However, and before casting your ballot, you became aware that Walker had previously paid for several abortions and, when confronted about it, lied. Later, you also discovered he lied about his academic credentials, military record, state of residence, etc.
Notwithstanding all of these verifiable lies, you still voted for Walker. In this example, therefore, condoning a liar proves that politics and common sense are mutually exclusive. In the second scenario, while your initial focus was on supporting a ban on abortion, you lost the ability to identify other negative aspects of Walker’s/MAGA/Republican Party’s platform, namely, the “Big Lie,” climate change and vaccines are hoaxes, Social Security/Medicare should be reduced or eliminated, the wealthy should pay less in taxes, all news from liberal media is fake, health care and voting rights should be restricted, etc.
Do all of these other platform issues, when added together, outweigh your desire to ban all abortions, or do they collectively matter less? Noting the vast influence these aforementioned measures have on the lives of all citizens, coupled with the fact that these additional measures, if enacted, would often go against your own self-interest, and following a careful review of verifiable sources of information, you instead cast a vote for Warnock’s platform of fairness and inclusion. In this particular case, politics and common sense were not mutually exclusive. In the third scenario, and in light of the “Big Lie,” the Jan.
6 insurrection and efforts by Republicans to suppress voting rights, the 2024 presidential election may herald a watershed moment in American democracy. Why? The Republican Party is supporting a once-fringe constitutional theory that would give state legislatures all but absolute control over elections. Given this controversial theory, and if said theory is enacted into law, any candidate who garners the most votes may not always be declared the winner, if Republicans control state legislatures.
With this legislative possibility in mind, would you still cast a vote for any Republican candidate supporting this theory? If the answer is yes, politics and common sense are mutually exclusive. However, if you voted for other candidates (Democrat, independent, other), are politics and common sense mutually exclusive? No. Why? Common sense mandates this type of legislative control subverts the people’s will.
What is fair and just may not always be convenient on a personal/political level, but furthering the will of the majority is of paramount importance. Voting must always be straightforward and simple, namely, the candidate securing the most votes is declared the officeholder. Therefore, when voting, remember that politics and common sense are not mutually exclusive.
Again, why? The results from these various scenarios support the notion that politics and common sense can sometimes make strange bedfellows. However, as a member of society, your common sense should always be the controlling factor that decides issues of significance to the majority of citizens, even when those choices override a single issue of vital concern to you personally (namely, abortion). Therefore, the priority during all elections, and especially in 2024, must be to employ your common sense and support candidates/party platforms that promote the basic cornerstones of a true democracy – namely, both your right to vote and to have your vote counted fairly.
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