Winning Isn’t Everything–It’s The Only Thing! Or Is It?

When has picking a “winner” been the sole criteria in picking a President?   It’s hard to  pinpoint the exact election that harbored and advanced this notion, but undoubtedly it has been around to some degree all along. Maybe it occurred first when the media hid FDR’s disability from the public; if not then, surely campaign managers learned from Richard Nixon as he sweated and faded  on black and white TV  in his colorless gray suit during the 1960 debates with JFK.  However, until recently it hasn't been as paramount in the selection process.   Polling and political advertising strategy owes its very existence to the importance of picking a winner, notwithstanding speech writers, campaign staff, spin doctors, and in this age of mass media , even stylists and makeup artists.  An entire industry has evolved in the making and packaging of a candidate.  The result has been people seeking office who have no cause, no vision and concomitantly no idea in what direction they want to lead this nation.  They raise their voices looking for le bon mot–the catchy sound bite, but essentially avoid saying anything that could upset the polls, who enter into a political campaign with a persona  best described by Shakespeare’s Macbeth: “…a poor player,

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.”

More intent upon winning than leading, we have seen  candidates who have not paid their political dues, who do not possess a central core of political beliefs, and who are essentially a product of their own  narcissism if you will.   The last installment of this social aberration is this election year’s crop of GOP  front runners.  And lest you think we are beating up on Republicans, this did not happen just now; you can find this genre of candidate in varying degrees  throughout the last three decades of elections.  The problem is more than the packaging and selling of a candidate,  it is  selling  America short for without a center of  core values, there are no winners.  Just like Charlie Sheen’s “winning,” it is self-delusional and the voter awakens after election day with a regret  hangover and nobody to blame but  themselves further making the case that “none of the above” is a valid vote.

When did we stop selecting candidates based upon trust, honesty, and the quality of their ideas?  When did proven leadership take second place to stage presence?  When did we exchange Cicero for the American Idol? It may be why this is a time in our history so well suited  for actors.

Are we that predictable that a poll can create a boilerplate  of a perfect People’s Choice candidate?

Are we that superficial that winning is more important than integrity or vision?

Are we so tied into and controlled by the media, that we fail to do our duty as citizens to ask the tough questions, to find a candidate that we can vote for rather than the lesser of two evils?

Or is the process so flawed, the choices so limited, as to render the entire election process moot?  Tell me, when did you last feel good about who you were voting for?  I bet it’s been a while, if at all.