So I was asked to sign a petition to get Mike Huckabee on the ballot... - 07 Dec 2007 - 5 views

Current mood:working
Mike Huckabee supporters were soliciting signatures outside my office today. When asked for mine I replied, "No. I support Ron Paul."
"But Mike Huckabee is a Republican too."
"I'm not a Republican."
I dislike Huchabee. I feel he is a politics as usual politician and represents the worst of the Republican party (with the exception of the Neo-Conservative movement which admittedly is much worse), who if given the chance would eliminate separation of church and state, heap heavy doses of Christianity upon the populace and government, while simultaneously stripping us of our civil liberties. This was the real reason I refused to sign the petition.
I do feel mildly guilty for not signing it though. The reason is that I believe in free fare open electoral competition. I may dislike Huckabee, but that still does not mean he should not be able to run for office, and he certainly does deserve a fair chance. By refusing to sign I hinder that fair chance and swing the vote in the favour of my candidate or another candidate – which I do not have the right to do (my vote cannot have more value than another citizen's vote). So in complete fairness, and mathematical randomness, I should be ballot agnostic and sign all petitions that come my way.
But I know that I will not. Perhaps I lack the fortitude, or perhaps I am too jaded by inept government and culture in America to bother. But I do know this, the next election is important – the mishaps to the last 8 years are permanent, the US will never again be the dominant social force that it once was. And while I am consistent in my insistence that the executive branch needs to be greatly weakened in favour of the legislative branch I know that this is unrealistic and is an inherent flaw in the design of government. Because of this, it is important that we choose a leader who will maintain the obligations of the social contract to the people, and not try to guide them to a vision of the nation that represents ideological fitness.
Kennedy's statement, "…ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what can you do for your country" affirms the trend that the nation is more important than the people who comprise it; a trend that has reached a climax with the current administration. But this is not true – the people are always more important than the idea, and for this reason it is imperative that we elect a chief executive who will recognise this and support us, the living entities, over the abstract fiction that is the nation.