A Political Dilemma

Small town politics are always fun and entertaining to watch and this year is no exception. We seem to be flooded with candidates for County Judge and several of the County Commissioner spots. I know most of the people running for these offices personally and know the rest by reputation. In a small town, that means how many people talk bad about them.

I guess I should start out by saying that I do not vote for Democrats. Period. I figure that anyone who would align him or herself with the party of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama is not the kind of person I want to be associated with.

Unfortunately in West Texas, particularly in the small towns, there are lots of "yellow-dog" Democrats. Let me explain as I don't want them confused with the so-called "Blue Dog" Democrats in Congress. A "Yellow Dog" Democrat is one more because of tradition than ideological alignment. They tend to be older and say things like "My Grandaddy was a Democrat, my Daddy was a Democrat, and I'M a Democrat." Out here, that can be attributed to the fact that FDR sent tons of money to the plains when the depression and dust bowl were raging. Why else would you have a town named "New Deal" in Texas. The joke is that they would vote for a yellow dog if it ran on the Democratic ticket.

Until 30 or so years ago, you didn't get elected to office in Texas unless you were a Democrat. That has slowly changed, and since 1994, all major offices statewide have been filled by Republicans. Unfortunately, there are still some counties in Texas, especially RURAL Texas, especially rural WEST TEXAS, where running on the Democratic ticket is the ONLY way to get elected. It has only been in the last 15 years, since I came to Brownfield, that the Republican Party has actually been able to recruit candidates to run as Republicans. I believe that this is the first year that the Republicans have fielded candidates for ALL the partisan races.

Now remember, I don't vote for Democrats. That's where I have my dilemma.

In several cases, the BEST candidate for the office is a Democrat. I won't talk about the Republican candidates, but in my opinion, they don't hold a candle to their opponents.

So what to do? Support the best candidate and pretend that they don't send dues to the party that runs the mess in Washington, or vote the party line for someone who is less qualified only because he is endorsed by my party.

Damn my political conscience!