Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Today's gripe

This time of year, and in November, our newspaper's editorial board hosts a parade of candidates seeking office and our endorsement. What makes me cranky is that most of these candidates have spent a great deal of time raising money and figuring out how to get elected, but too little time studying the issues.

It's discouraging to ask a candidate for state office what form of taxation he or she supports for public education, for example, only to be answered by mumbling indicative of no investment of thought. The same goes for the candidate for Congress who answers with a blank stare a question about how government can insure that all its citizens receive proper medical care.

These are the candidates who want more than anything to hold public office. We need more candidates who want more than anything to solve the public's problems.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Having worked with a variety of candidates that have appeared before your board, your comments are striking. Generally in local elections, you ignore the challengers with good ideas instead:
Endorsing the incumbents because they have more experience.
The truth is that the one could write up who you were to endorse BEFORE you meet with the people. Your patterns of behavior and choice are that obvious.

Park Burroughs said...

Oh, we're really that predictable? I suppose then that you predicted that we would endorse Ross Perot for president some years back. We were the only daily newspaper in the U.S. to do so.
It is true that we have endorsed incumbents who in our hearts we believed deserved to be tossed out of office. In those cases, we were disappointed that no challenger possessed "good ideas" or the ability to communicate them.

Anonymous said...

We meant local candidates, not your national leanings. Typical defense to deflect.