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As you enter the voting booth, you may be tempted to vote for the party you always vote for. You may feel that you are being loyal to your family, your close friends, or your long-held beliefs. However, parties change over time, and your favorite party may not be acting in your best interest.
A party's primary goal is to gain and keep power. To get elected many politicians will tow the party line and make a good show for the primary election instead of considering differing views and delivering tangible results to keep their jobs after getting into office. Too many trust that the voters will vote out of habit or fear of the alternatives.
What happens when a majority of voters just vote for one party? The politicians who are elected will answer to the party leaders and partisan donors instead of to the neighbors who voted for them.
Political parties play an important role. They help voters understand where candidates generally stand on major issues. However, party affiliation is only a starting point. It should not be a substitute for evaluating a candidate's character, competence, and commitment to public service.
History has shown that excellent leaders and ineffective leaders can be found in every political party. A party label does not guarantee honesty, integrity, intelligence, or sound judgment. These qualities belong to individuals. When voters automatically support anyone with a particular letter next to their name, they surrender their responsibility to think critically about who will represent them.
We, the voters, must look at each candidate. Does this person meet openly with the public or just with potential donors? Has this person ever broken with party leadership when the welfare of their constituents demanded it? Does this person propose realistic solutions that meet your needs and those of your family and community? What relevant experience does this person have? Does this person exhibit basic decency and honesty in their public life?
You may say that you don't have time to research each candidate, but there are some short cuts. Look online at the candidates' websites. Search your local newspaper's website for articles on them. Attend a candidates' forum one evening. Go to the county headquarters of both parties and pick up candidate brochures. And if you can't find much information on the candidates for a particular position, just leave that one blank on your ballot.
Remember these public servants make decisions that affect your life. They decide how much you will pay in taxes and how your tax dollars will be spent. How much will be spent on roads, schools, secure systems for protecting your data on government computers, and disaster relief? It's important that they make the decisions in ways that improve the lives of the people they represent.
In an era of intense political polarization, choosing candidates over party may seem difficult. Yet it is one of the most important responsibilities of citizenship. We need to look beyond the hype and fear tactics. We need to find candidates with character, competence, and genuine commitment to public service and not personal gain. For the health of our democracy, vote for the person, not the party.
Jacqueline Gillette is a member of Living Democracy, Engaging Citizens, a local citizen group. Our mission is to inform and educate the Mid-Ohio Valley about how government works on the local, state, and federal levels and how citizens can be involved to make our democracy work. Join us the third Monday of each month. livingdemocracymov@gmail.com, facebook/living democracy: engaging citizens, Youtube/living democracy.