Tell you what. Let’s have the kind of politics in which you support the candidate you actually believe in.
Is electability important? Sure it is. But it’s not an end in itself. Yet too often, folks who crave a seat at the table sacrifice principles to politics. They throw all their weight behind one guy Mr. Electable and throw everyone else to the wolves.
The Democratic primaries were pretty discouraging. Despite all the baggage that comes with Al Gore, most potential contenders bowed out of that contest. Why? Because Gore is an incumbent vice president.
Take the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, for example. Also known as NARAL. What does it tell us when NARAL endorses Al Gore over the only major alternative candidate, Bill Bradley…even though Bradley is the more consistent supporter of their issue? Bradley gets a 99 percent rating from the group, and Gore clocks in at only 61 percent. But NARAL was betting their chips, not promoting their principles.
We’ve seen too much of the same blind calculus in the Republican primaries. A lot of folks who might have preferred McCain, Forbes or Keyes went with the anointed front-runner instead. They made a political calculation, based on the fact that all the support of the Republican establishment was being funneled to one guy, George W. Bush.
Something is wrong in a political system when expediency wins out over principles, as a matter of routine. It’s time for a change.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.