The Big Girl's Take On Politics

The Big Girl Chronicles:  The Big Girl’s Take On Politics

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m no passionate political fanatic.  Yet, it boggles my mind each and every time I watch most candidates (not all) upon the arrival of campaign season give such harsh critiques of their opponent’s administration that it can seem more like a mudslinging contest than an actual petition for office.  I understand that it’s the nature of politics.  You have to have the debate.  You have to make an assessment of what’s been accomplished and where there were failures.  But sometimes it can seem unfair, especially when you have a leader who has made an effort to make significant changes but those proposed changes were thwarted by the congressional body.  Not only that, but my very limited view of politics and how government operates moves me to view the issues that are handed down from administration to administration as problems that have been ongoing for decades or more.  Each president takes his turn trying to rearrange or minimize those issues.  To achieve any amount of success, each president has to have cooperation from the congressional body.  The congressional body is brilliantly constructed in a way that all political parties are participants.  There is no complete autonomy.  Therefore, if there is any degree of failure, that failure was a collective effort.  So, preaching to me about why this leader failed when you used your office to guarantee his failure doesn’t make you a more suitable candidate.  I trusted you to operate in the best interest of all American citizens and not set yourself up at another’s expense. 

So I’ve learned to pay attention to what kind of leader I can expect a candidate to become by the campaign strategy.  If a candidate is more about pointing out what someone else didn’t do rather than what experience and plans for change can be expected from his or her bid for office, then you are trying to get me to vote against someone rather than convincing me why you would be the best person for the job. If this kind of candidate takes office, then you have someone there that you have no knowledge of – no qualifications, no record of accomplishments or successes, no proven leadership skills – preparing to lead the country.  But all you know is that the person you voted against tried to provide a reasonable solution to healthcare, or for that matter actually at least attempted to respond to citizens’ concerns about their taxes and what kind of future can be expected upon retirement.

Perhaps I have the wrong idea about how government is really supposed to work.  Instead of actually believing that I’m supposed to elect seasoned, mature leadership to represent me in office, maybe I’m only participating in some adolescent minded person fulfilling his or her childhood response to the teacher’s question of who he or she wants to be when they grown up.