Brandon's Election Wrap-up
November 2002
by Brandon Copple

Is it just me or was election 2002 a complete joke? I'm not talking about the results: I could give a damn which indistinguishable party has a one-vote majority. I'm talking about the campaign leading up to Tuesday's vote.

Maybe it is me. Maybe I don't watch enough PBS. But I didn't hear a single substantive debate about anything that matters. We're on the verge of war with one country, we're chasing terrorists in another, and we're mired in a pretty nasty recession at home – did I miss the discussion of these issues? All I heard were the same old arguments about prescription drug benefits. Now I'm all for providing affordable medicine to our nation's elderly so they can live forever, but, I mean, we're going to WAR. Good god, y'all.

And it's not that I'm opposed to kicking Saddam's ass – actually I haven't decided. Maybe because nobody has asked me. No, I don't expect a courtesy call from Dick Cheney every time we drop a bomb on somebody. The way it's supposed to work is I tell you where I stand on the issue by going down to the old schoolhouse and punching some chads. But this time around, there was no referendum on war in Iraq, nobody saying 'I don't think this is such a good idea,' or 'Yes it is: Let's get that fucker and all his friends,' or anything at all. Was there?

As I understand it, the Democrats didn't have the balls to challenge the president's unilateralist war plans, for fear that they'd be cast as traitors. And they got their asses handed to them anyway. Maybe the lesson will be that the public likes to see some hell raised. I know, for every successful firebrand like Harry Truman there's a guy whose convictions cost him, like Barry Goldwater. But remember that the Reagan revolution never would've happened without Goldwater's run in 1964 (breaking the solid South, turning the GOP away from country-club elitism and toward an ideological identity). Integrity always pays off.

Or think about this. The last time one party really brought the funk was 1994. The Republicans swept in to Congress that year on the Contract for America. Setting the merits of the Contract aside, you have to admit it worked like a charm. It provided a distinct, precise message and it moved people to action because it contained actual ideas – big ideas, passionate ideas. Could it be that times were graver in 1994? Of course not! We were all a bunch of pussies in '94, bound for untold riches and historic productivity gains. Now we've got unemployment and terrorism. Where are the ideas? Where's the passion?

If you want to really get depressed, think about Minnesota. I don't mean the tragic death of Paul Wellstone. I'm not a big lefty so politically the loss didn't strum my heartstrings. What's sad is what happened after that plane went down. Everyone's devastated. They hold this memorial rally, bursting with emotion and full of shouted promises to keep the Wellstone tradition alive. The media lionizes Wellstone, the only guy to stand up to the president on Iraq. Like him or not, this was a man of courage, a man of the people. Walter Mondale, the decrepit but beloved old war-horse, is hauled out of the nursing home to stand in for the party's fallen champion. For a day or so it looks like this campaign could catch fire. And then the Democrats decide to honor the Wellstone legacy by taking not a single courageous stand, by carrying on with their promise of cheaper arthritis medicine, by boldly not challenging the president on Iraq. Finally, on election day Mondale, proud bearer of the Wellstone standard....loses. After all that, Minnesotans shrug and send the former mayor of St. Paul to the Senate.

One moment of inspiration in the whole fucking campaign and here's what we get: A Senator named Norm who once lost to Jesse Ventura.

Even more appalling: I didn't vote. There were logistical problems (I just moved, would've had to go clear across town), but I could easily have overcome them if I'd been anything less than completely disgusted with the whole show. The campaign in Illinois was even more wretched than usual. For governor we had an idiot Democrat-machine candidate versus a Republican prosecutor who had put god-knows-how-many innocent men on death row. For the Senate we had, what? I don't even know. There was no race to speak of. For attorney general, the daughter of the speaker of the Illinois House took on another yet another prosecutor with a history of winning death sentences for guys who didn't do it. Jesus christ.

So for the first time in my voting-age life, I sat this one out. I still believe in democracy. I still believe in the Republic. Hell, I still believe in voting. I just need a little inspiration.

(Brandon Copple is a volunteer staff writer for 2 Walls Webzine)