Choosy Voters Choose Choices Saturday Political Soap Box 46

I grew up during the Cold War, when Communist Russia was the big bugaboo.  They were an evil empire where hatred was mutual and both sides were loaded with enough firepower to knock the planet off its orbit.  It didn't even to be deliberate.  It could be from a series of mistakes that got out of control.

Besides the constant threat of nuclear holocaust, what was it about the Soviet Union that was actually disturbing?  Its' so-called godless atheistic quality?That they had such awful things as socialized medicine?  That their Olympic sports participants were actually professionals. Right or wrong, these were not the things that disturbed me most.

It was their lack of choice.  Waiting in Que to go to the store, waiting for hours to go buy peanut butter where your choice was between a brand called PEANUTSKI BUTTER and....that's it.  Just one brand.  No choice.

Then the Soviets would go to vote.  And their choice would be the Communist Party representative or...nothing.  That was it.  One person to vote for.  No choice.

Switch to present day America.  Go to the ballot in Pierce County of Georgia.  Over three fourths of the races in the General election are unopposed.  Just like in Communist Russia.  And it apparently doesn't bother anybody but me.

How can a democracy be considered healthy when their is no choice?  More and more sections of the country are growing to be that way.  And depending on where you live, it can be only Democrats or only Republicans.  How can anyone be happy with that?  To be out the soldier card, is that what our soldiers were fighting for?  So that we could go to the polls and have no choice?

I know that big money has corrupted our politics  and that no one wants to run unless they have a reasonable shot at winning.  But politics and democracy is more than just about winning   It's about presenting a whole marketplace of ideas.  And we're losing that, and it makes me very sad.

I actually think we'd be better off if we had multiple parties in this country, a democratic smorgasbord of choices.  Congress would function by each bill having to be passed by a shifting coalition of parties rather than one party dominating.  Many countries do have multiple parties.  It is just overwhelmingly sad to me that other countries are ahead of us in democratic choice.

I'm not asking anyone to do much.  It would be nice if some, on both the right and the left, would at least give a rip.  I have a feeling that if you went to Wal-Mart and found that the only brand of peanut butter was Great Value, it would at least make you pause.  I'm just asking you to do the same thing when you go to vote.