Taking A Chance on a Political Choice

Image details: Boy giving his vote to girl served by picapp.com

We’ve all been through several months of campaign slogans and have seen more than a few tasteless television spots. And we’ve still got months to go: politicians are going to be pitching us reasons on why they are the best choice for President, Congressman or County Dog Catcher right up until November.

And after all those ads and volunteers and donations, we have to take a risk when we actually go into the voting booth. We may get an elected official who agrees with us on most issues, a few or even none. It’s a bit scary to think about the sort of risks a democracy exposes us to.

But at the same time, we have a system with plenty of checks and balances built in. Even when there are no term limits for a position, each official has to run again every few years, ensuring that, if that person wants to stay in office, he or she must play nice. And very few powers are given to only one official: there are ways to override, veto or debate just about every bit of business the government does.

Election season is a hell of a risk. But it’s a bigger risk for the politicians than for us voters. After all, we can just vote for a new guy or gal in four years.