THE CASHWORD FOR NOV. 27, 2023

                            WHY ARE THEY RUNNING?

                                    By Cash Michaels

                                    Journalist, filmmaker

                                    https://vimeo.com/790567289?share=copy

With the March 5th primaries just a few months away, that means candidates across North Carolina have begun filing for office.

Have you ever asked yourself why someone, anyone, would put themselves and their families on the line to run for public office these days?

Please, don’t get me wrong, To serve as an elected public official in your community, county or state can be a noble calling, and should be lauded accordingly.

But that’s assuming that you’re doing it for the right, selfless reasons.

Bringing improvement to the community you live in, either through public service or enhancing the quality of life, is generally on the menu of successful public representatives, and deserving of praise.

But what if you’re running for office not to improve anything about quality of life issues, but rather either to feather your own nest, or further the narrow-minded goals of your political party? What kind of candidate are you then?

That’s why it is so difficult for the average voter to believe literally anything that political candidates say. If we don’t know a candidate from past record - what they stand for, what they’ve accomplished, how true to their word they have been thus far - then we have nothing really to go by when it comes to voting for them.

The political parties know this, so they tell us that such-and such candidate is a true believer in whatever the party philosophy is, and will continue to function accordingly if elected. Why do you think parties invest so heavily in political endorsements?

But perhaps the worst trick in the book is getting you to vote for a particular candidate because they don’t like what, or who you don’t like. Never mind that there are issues of great concern in your community that need to be addressed. Other people are getting literally fat off of your tax dollars, you’re told. You should want that stopped, and Candidate X, if elected, will do everything necessary to stop it.

Whether that line is true or not is not the point, those who run elections tell us.The objective is to turnout as many voters as possible to put Candidate X in office, so that he or she can carry out the whims and dictates of the political party they represent.

And all Candidate X has to do is to vote against issues that the rank-and-file have been primed to believe are a waste, or a plot designed to make others fat on their dime.

Goodness, we started this missive seeking candidates with the purest of hearts and intentions to serve in the public’s interest, and ended up with what we generally have now - a system of politics that’s about demonizing other citizens with false memes because that has proven to be one of the only ways we will even show up to the polls these days.

Think about it. We have Republican politicians and elected officials who still insist that the 2020 presidential elections were a fraud, or that the January 6th, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol really didn’t happen.

Why? Because they know that there are enough of us who will show up to the voting booths thinking and behaving the way they want us too. These political leaders know that there is one man who’s sway with their followers is so strong, it is best not to expose him for what he is, but perpetuate the lies and deceit he continues to spread, even when all evidence and common sense prove him wrong.

So, if you are a candidate running for public office these days, this is the lay of the land you face today. Either run for office promising to lead in the best tradition of public service, regardless of political party, or become a tool of a powerful political force that represents anything but truth, or public service.

Whichever road you choose as a candidate, ultimately determines who you serve, how you serve, and why.

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