Voters ace the midterms -- but quality of candidates still earns an incomplete
SAN DIEGO -- Whatever other problems we may have faced with the 2018 midterm elections, voter apathy was not one of them.
The electorate was on fire. Americans are painfully divided, and they often seem to live on different planets. But the good news is that nearly the whole solar system turned out to vote.
More than 38 million Americans cast their ballots early or absentee, a huge jump from the more than 21 million who voted early or absentee in the 2014 midterm elections.
You can credit President Trump -- or blame him -- depending on your politics. A poll taken before the election showed that Trump was on the minds of around 70 percent of those who planned to vote.
Still, while voter participation was higher than normal, you did hear -- in the days and weeks leading up to the vote -- many of the usual jabs at non-voters.
Even Oprah Winfrey piled on. While campaigning in Georgia for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, Winfrey told an audience: "For anybody here who has an ancestor who didn't have the right to vote and you are choosing not to vote wherever you are in this state, in this country, you are dishonoring your family."
Ouch. That's a heavy load to dump on someone. But I'll allow it. Winfrey is absolutely right.
All Americans should make an effort to vote. Our self-preservation depends on it. I'm a disciple of Alan Simpson, my friend and graduate school professor. The former Wyoming senator likes to say: "Politics is a contact sport. Take part, or get taken apart."
But while we're on the subject of dishonor, let's save a little indignation for the folks who've created a system that is dishonest, corrupt and self-serving. In this election cycle, I was especially attuned to efforts by candidates to deceive their own voters on hot-button issues like immigration and health care.
What upsets me in every election is that those who, for whatever reason, choose not to participate are held in such disdain by political junkies, journalists and every other elitist with an opinion.
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