Letters to the Editor
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Re: Principles don't win elections
Principles may not historically win elections, but they do help me sleep at night. The way I see it, people are sick of "business as usual" and want a change. We're prime for a change, with all of the incompetence and disrespect for civil liberties we've seen recently. People are outraged, I know I am. I refuse to be part of the problem and concede to the media's dominance over our electoral process. I guess it's that whole principles thing.
I'm not saying what you say won't happen. I fully expect it, but I also have a (possibly unreasonable) belief that people are generally good and responsible (keyword: generally). I hope it's enough to make some real change in this country, because we need it badly. The Internet is kind of a "big thing" right now too, so hopefully that will make a difference--the whole "instant access to information" thing, you know. It all depends on if people on a whole buy into the "media controls my decisions" mindset or recognize the alternatives, and I suppose a person's outlook on it depends on their general regard for people as a whole. Regarding people as a whole as respectable, principled, and generally good, it's easy for me to come up with crazy notions like "Ron Paul might actually get elected". I suppose stranger things have happened.
I hope people will, for once in the past (too many) years, really look inside of them and decide if they will let business continue as usual or use their constitutionally-granted right to vote for what they really believe in, not the lesser of two evils (which are a douchebag and a shit sandwich, if you didn't know).
All the best to you and yours.