Parting thoughts about Missouri’s ‘Stupor Tuesday’

by Jack Stapleton Jr.

Someone obviously forgot to tell Missourians that March 7 was only the second time in the state’s history in which they would have the opportunity to take part in the selection of presidential candidates. Only one out of five eligible voters went to the polls on Super Tuesday to have a voice in who holds the most important, critical job in America.

Lack of interest, or desire, is not the only casualty from this month’s preferential primary. We muffed the chance of picking candidates whose careers were not tied to either party and who were relatively free of party domination.

Bill Bradley and John McCain offered themselves as candidates who were not attached at the hip to their respective parties and whose public careers showed for the most part a daring degree of independence. These two distinguished Americans venture forth without any encouragement from their party’s leadership. They demonstrated their intelligence and integrity by speaking out on subjects their mainstream opponents wanted to avoid, which, unfortunately they were successful in doing.

Both losers espoused reforms that every thoughtful Missourian should favor: health-care for the uninsured, less influence over public policy by special interests, changes in national political campaigns, restrictions on out-of-control lobbyists, greater attention to moral standards both inside and outside government, amelioration of partisan squabbling in the nation’s capital, greater attention to individual needs over selfish interests and a badly needed moratorium on official lies and deceptions with increased emphasis on governmental honesty and integrity.

Both men spoke so convincingly on these subjects that there was no reason to doubt their sincere intentions to reform practices.

Bradley and McCain were faulted, both by their establishment opponents and many in the media, for their individualistic characteristics: Bradley for his less than eloquent speaking style, McCain for his temper and his quarrels with party hacks. Oh, that we had a few more tongue-tied leaders like Lincoln and hot-tampered statesmen like our Harry Truman.

From the ashes of Super Tuesday America is left with a vice president who has a great deal to answer for over the past seven or eight years, and a state governor who seems to have no comprehensible answer to any question that requires a compound sentence. The establishments of both political parties not only favored the emergent winners but used all of their influence and muscle to make sure they received more votes than their more independent opponents. From national chairmen on through the chains of command in both parties, the word was quite specific: choose the candidates we tell you to support or your failure will mean your political interment. If this point is still not clear to readers, consider how few establishment congressmen supported McCain and how few Democratic leaders in Missouri backed Bradley, despite his native son status.

The two losers were persona non grata in political circles for the very valid reason that each one posed a threat to the hammerlock that has long choked off independently altruistic movements in state and national politics. The long-time leaders of both parties have grown so accustomed to controlling not only elections but the consequences of those elections that they give little more than lip service to the concept of a representative democracy.

Whether Stupor Tuesday’s voters cast their ballots based on issues or personal qualities – (and either is a perfectly valid reason) – there were glaring differences between the leading candidates in both parties. It is virtually impossible to define the specific issues advanced by the winners with the exception of their refusal to recognize the reform policies put forth by their opponents. As for personal qualities, neither of the winners appears to have a hidden criminal record, hardly a recommendation elevating them to the highest office in the nation.

These are the times that try men’s souls, starting with voter apathy and indifference and extending to the demonstrated muscle of entrenched political groups. These travails may be tolerable at this moment of relative peace in the world and economic prosperity at home. But if history is any indication, this moment of tranquility will be only that, a mere mini-second in millennial time.

America is robbed of the best and the brightest when we are only left with candidates who are neither.

[Missouri News & Editorial Service, Inc. Copyright (C) 2000 MNES Corp.]