Tuesday, November 2, 2010

In sports there is a commonly-used expression to describe a team that’s success is often based on one ingredient. For example a baseball team that depends on hitting home runs or a football team that throws the football. The expression is “live by the home run, die by the home run or live by the pass, die by the pass.” What it means is basically if you rely on one thing to be successful it’s likely to come back and haunt you when that one thing isn’t working.

Today is Election Day and in politics you can use that line as well…“live by the party, die by the party.” If predictions are correct then on a national level Republicans are going to make big gains in the House and Senate today. Those gains are not going to be made because all their candidates are so great but rather it’s a negative reflection on the job many think President Obama and the Democrats are doing in Washington. Before you say that’s not fair remember that it was the exact opposite two years ago when Democrats took control because of the anti-Republican feelings in this country with George Bush running the show.
So really it often comes down to timing and I’m sure when this day is done many qualified elected officials who have done a good job will be looking for a new line of work because of the letter that follows their name….R or D. I for one will vote for the person and not the party but there’s a good chance I’ll be in the minority.

Many in New Jersey are urging others to simply vote out incumbents which might be the stupidest thing I have ever heard. You can’t lump every elected official into one category and they should be judged on their efforts. Plus if you’re feeling is to get rid of all those now in office does that mean their replacements should all be voted out two years from now regardless of what they do. If you are going to exercise your right to vote then at the least have an idea of why you are voting for someone. If not it’s better than you don’t vote as I have never understood those who feel we must vote. To me it’s a right rather than a responsibility and sometimes by not voting you are sending a message that there are no real choices to make. Bottom line; vote if you want to but not because you have to.