Beware of politicians who tell you what you want to hear. Voters must do their homework | Opinion

Election time is fast-approaching for Tri-City voters. Ballots will soon start arriving for the August 1 primary election. It is a nonpartisan election, which means votes should be made without regard to “Republican” and “Democrat”.

If we can’t depend on the R’s and the D’s to guide us, perhaps we can substitute “conservative” and “liberal”, or “progressive.” But such labels are no better and only beg the question. So, how do we go about selecting the best candidates for school boards, city councils and other local nonpartisan seats without knowing who they truly are?

First and foremost, voters must pay attention to what the candidates are saying.

That means each candidate must communicate information about themselves that reveals who they are and why they are better than their opponents.

A word of caution is needed here. Politicians are like salesmen. They all tend to tell you what they think you want to hear, which all too often is less than the whole truth. Same goes for political candidates. It’s like a dating relationship — dress up, doll up, and make a good impression without revealing too much that could be misunderstood. Candidates pick up on clues and make the most of them. They know not to be too honest, too early. After all, they are good poker players, playing to win.

And, if you the voter aren’t at least a little bit wary, you will be played.

Candidates who are quick to call themselves patriots, lovers of the Constitution, for freedom and “the people,” more family-wage jobs, affordable housing, less regulations, lower taxes, apple pie, the flag, Mom, and democracy are borrowing worn-out slogans that have devolved into vacuous syllables. Virtually every candidate says The Pledge of Allegiance and loves America, land of the free and home of the brave.

Candidates who fail to identify issues that are top concerns in our local government, who offer nothing to solve those issues, who can’t say what mountain they are “willing to die on” to stand for truth and integrity while battling for the good of all — those candidates would appear to be candidates with nothing of substance to offer.

Voters who swallow that kind of political pablum, get what they deserve. Voters who make little to no effort to know who they are voting for is the problem.

Informed/intelligent voters do their homework. They read the voters’ pamphlet; formulate questions and then press candidates for their answers. They go to voters’ forums, get down to local issues and discover what each candidate’s core values are — what they think of parental rights; spending public money within an established budget (what a concept, eh?); negotiating public employee salaries/benefits with transparency for both taxpayers and the employees; protecting private property rights; how to encourage local business growth by reducing bureaucracy/red-tape; resisting big government intrusion into local control and private lives; demanding that local elected officials be both accessible and accountable to the public; addressing social issues with appropriate compassion without enabling self-destructive behaviors; and respecting all individuals as having value in society.

Politics and politicians may or may not be “dirty,” but politics itself is a messy business. It involves negotiating on issues that can be polarizing. Acceptable middle ground solutions can be difficult to attain and hard for voters to accept. Sadly, lying and partial truth is often part and parcel of the process.

That’s why a candidate’s core values are the key. A representative republic such as ours (not a democracy) depends on an informed electorate being able to trust those elected into positions of political power. What a candidate says or promises is just words, which may or may not be true. Too many politicians have profited more than their constituents have benefited.

Honesty and integrity are the most important qualities in a candidate for public service elective office. Choose wisely or suffer the consequences. Once the votes are counted, it’s too late.

This story was originally published July 12, 2023 at 4:25 PM.