I was recently driving around our beautiful island when I saw a sign that said re-elect xyz candidate, and what jumped into my mind immediately was, WHY?
What possible reason can any of you reading this give to justify any incumbent, at any level, being re-elected? Are you kidding me? Is it the amazing economic acumen they have displayed? Well! Let’s examine the evidence.
Currently, the federal debt is about to reach $13 trillion. What kind of number is that, can you tell me? Here it is: 13,000,000,000,000 (I think … I start getting a little lost after 12 zeros). That’s more stars than there are in the Milky Way Galaxy. Gee, no wonder you want to vote back in incumbent xyz, I’m sure you’re excited by the soon-to-be gazillion dollar deficit. I mean, why stop now?
At the state level, the next budget cycle is expected to have a $4.5 billion deficit — crying in the night, we only have approximately 6.5 million people in the whole state. That’s about $692 for every man, woman, and child! Yea! Vote your incumbent back in! They’re doing a fine job! Oh, that’s right, your incumbent was the LONE voice in the wilderness crying out for the pigs at the trough to repent. Yep, I’m sure that’s true.
And then we have the local incumbents. Well, I’ll let the dump speak for itself, I mean, if your incumbent is not economically talented enough to run a dump, perhaps they’re not qualified to run a county government with a budget of over $40 million? Just saying. Oh, right, I keep forgetting — your incumbent was the LONE voice in the wilderness!
Can I ask a simple question? If everyone’s incumbent is the locust-eating crazy-haired prophet crying for repentance in the wilderness, why is every level of government such a fiscal disaster? Have you ever actually considered voting your incumbent out, even if it means — GASP! — voting for a different party, someone who’s not your friend, not a part of your clique or ideology?
Come Nov. 2, most of the incumbents at every level of government will have been voted back in. Are the incumbents the problem, or you the voter?
Christopher Laws
San Juan Island
