Election business has me bummed

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I have been weary, flummoxed, and altogether bummed out by all the presidential political gobbledygook for some time already, and I think it is just getting to where it is going to get really mad.

I will be delighted when it is over and the American people this time next year can get back to kvetching mightily about who they chose to be seated behind that big desk in the Oval Office.

Part of presidential elections are exciting, but it is a small part compared to the rest of the doo doo that one has to wade through, sift through, examine to get to the truth about anything with these folks, if it is even possible to get to such a thing in situations such as this when the nonsense is so prolific.

I myself am disheartened by it all, and it never seems to get better.

The first time I got to vote was the year I turned 18 and that was the year Bill Clinton was first elected. I did not cast my vote for him, but for Ross Perot. It seems like every presidential election since then that I have been engaged in has left this voter having to choose the least displeasing candidate.

That is why I am disillusioned.

Maybe I am expecting too much from my fellow man. But shouldn’t we expect a lot from anyone who wants to represent the people? Maybe I am just hoping for the perfect candidate that ticks all the boxes, but that is a pipe dream.

I remember my grandparents speaking so highly of the presidents of their younger years, of the very hard years, of the years when there was violent war and the years of prosperity following, particularly Harry S. Truman.

I’m not saying there wasn’t some shadiness back then, some less-than-honorable things that occurred during long ago administrations, because there were and because it’s always a tricky thing giving such power to any human. But maybe there was more honor? Maybe there wasn’t.

That is a question I can’t answer because I wasn’t born until Richard Nixon was in office, even though he only remained in that office for a couple more weeks after my birth.

It would be 18 years after that before I would be allowed to engage in the process. Since then I have taken my right to vote seriously, but I have met each race with a heavy heart wondering where are “The buck stops here” candidates.

That was a Truman quote. Do we see anyone anymore willing to take responsibility like that?

Is it because times were simpler? Or was it just easier to deal in shades of right and wrong because the lack of technology, and therefore a lack of massive public scrutiny, made it easier to get away with?

I had not thought of that last question before, but now that it is out there it certainly opens up other lines of thinking on the matter.

I realize that romanticizing the past is a given, we all do it, and it is not hard to do. And presidential administrations are not immune to that romanticizing.

Has there been a truly respected United States leader since Reagan? If there has, I am not aware of them.

As I write this it is Ohio’s primary day. I shan’t be casting any vote though because I do not desire to align myself with any party, but remain in my registered non-party status of independent. To cast a vote toward one party affiliation, as I understand it, would put me in that party, and I just feel like all of the party options are a little too much of this or that for my taste.

Regardless of the ceaseless roster of lackluster potentials for the head of our nation, it is important to vote, and I hope that all of you do so. I look forward to voting in the general election in November, no matter who is on that ballot.

When we the people vote, not only do we lend our voices to who is elected, the individual casting that vote has the right, in my opinion, to speak freely about what a mess things are, because I think if a person can’t even care enough to take advantage of their constitutional right to vote, they do not have the right to grouse about the outcome.

What happens in Ohio on Tuesday I do not yet know. Who will come out as the chosen ones in the July conventions, I do not know.

I do know that I love my country. I know that I would like to be really excited about our potential leaders, but that will have to come during another election because it is not likely to happen this time around.

Regardless of how I feel right now, I am ever hopeful that whoever eventually lands in the Oval Office will do good for the people and for this country that we the people call home.

Reach Angela Shepherd at 937-393-3456, ext. 1681, or on Twitter @wordyshepherd.

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By Angela Shepherd

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