Politics is not war by other means

Though, I suppose it can seem like it. No, politics is the expressed will of the people. It is the means by which we decide how we will govern ourselves. And because important things are at stake, politics often involves passion and even rancor.

Over at Always Right Usually Correct, Tony has worked himself into a good head of steam. He is not exactly a fervent support of Michele Bachmann. I'm not familiar with all his reasons for his opposition, but some of it seems to stem from the fact Bachmann has not appeared on his radio show a time or two.

In his post that starts with a link to my account of the SD51 convention, Tony uses some language that you don't usually hear on the conservative side of the aisle.

I will next point out I have been consistently against using the grey area of "unethical yet legal" in campaigns.

What is a shame is the number of Republicans who are blinded by the need to win. More accurately is the number of Republicans who are blinded by the need for THEIR candidate to win. When it is their candidate then "it is the system we have".

I find the practice of fixing the endorsement a sign of weakness. Bachmann knows that she is the weaker of the candidates and cannot risk allowing the endorsement in the hands of a group of individually thinking people. Instead she has to find people who cannot think independently, cannot stand up in the convention when running for delegate and speak their mind ("vote for me because I'm a Bachmann robot supporter"), who have to be told exactly who to vote for because they lack the cognitive ability to decide for themselves.

As he says, among other things Tony is not in favor of the practice of letting delegates know who other like-minded delegates are so they can support their candidate by voting for delegates who will also vote for their candidate.

I am quite in favor of that practice. I think it is good politics. Yet Tony refers to those who do support the use of slates as "blinded", people who "cannot think independently", and who "have to be told exactly who to vote for because they lack the cognitive ability to decide for themselves."

Gracious.

I suppose I cannot speak for everyone, but I am quite certain I am not blinded. I am quite capable of thinking and deciding for myself which candidate I support and why.

In fact, trusting people and their own judgment is a hallmark of conservative ideology. Tony continues:

What is more sickening is that people cannot see through the fact that the game is rigged and standing ovations at the end of Bachmann's empty rhetoric is a part of the scam.

I regret that Tony has become physically ill over the issue, but again, how is the game rigged. People are perfectly free to support whichever candidate they wish. At the SD51 convention last Saturday, people voted for delegates with no threat of punishment if they didn't vote a certain way. No one was standing over us with cattle prods making us vote for certain delegates. Nobody dumped a bucket filled with prewritten ballots into the teller's lap. So how was anything rigged?

I willingly voted for other delegates who support Bachmann because I want to see Bachmann get the endorsement. I, as a private citizen, completely of my own accord, took steps to participate in the process and try and do what I could for the candidate of my choice. Would Tony rather I vote for delegates at random?

There is more, but Tony concludes:

I am disappointed in the party's members for not recognizing this for what it is. The moral character of the party is disintegrating before my eyes this year.

I don't know that the free and fair practice of politics really deserves such histrionics. But, I think a danger in local politics is that for those who like to participate in the process, it's like a hobby. They enjoy it, it's what they spend time on, they get to know other people in the hobby, and after awhile they tend to have a feeling of ownership about the whole thing.

Again, just speaking in general terms, the trap for officers in local districts is to see their district as their fiefdom, and candidates coming in to seek support as intruders.

At the convention last Saturday just before we voted for delegates, one such local official argued that we shouldn't refer to any "slates", but instead we should vote for people who have worked in the process, who have done the legwork, etc...

I don't deny those who work in the local district deserve commendation for their service. But, the right to be a delegate should not be a perk conveyed upon political bosses. That elitist attitude has no business in conservative circles.

When neighbors get together and in the open and above board vote for whomever they wish, that's not "stuffing the ballot", it's politics in its noblest form.