Election 2016 Edition

Election Day is next Tuesday.  Don’t forget to vote!  It’s a mitzvah!

Anyone out there suffering from election overload?

According to a New York Times/CBS News Poll, an overwhelming majority of voters are disgusted by the state of American politics, and many harbor doubts that either major-party nominee can unite the country after a historically ugly presidential campaign.  82% of respondents said the 2016 campaign has made them feel disgusted.

That’s not a vote of confidence in our political system.

I understand the disgust and disappointment. People are tired of all the negativity and anger.

Think of the memorable sound bites of this campaign.  Hillary Clinton’s “deplorables” remark or Donald Trumps, “such a nasty woman.” 

Is this really what we want to hear?  It is no surprise the enthusiasm and expectations are low.  Leon Wieseltier, the Isaiah Berlin Senior Fellow in Culture and Policy at the Brookings Institution and a contributing editor at The Atlantic, noted, “The country needs healing, but nobody seems much in the mood for healing.”

Maybe, there’s a solution.

The other night, during a family discussion about who will win the election, I noted that some people write in a candidate who is not on the ballot.  I then thought to myself, “How exactly does writing in a candidate work?”

I googled it.

It seems like a hot topic.  In yesterday’s Washington Post, there was an article entitled “Who are you writing in? The overwhelming allure of voting for someone who won’t win.”  A number of prominent politicians have publicly stated they’ll be writing in candidates.  Ohio Gov. John Kasich said he wrote in John McCain for president.  Sen. John McCain has said he might write in his longtime friend, Sen. Lindsey Graham.  Some supporters of Bernie Sanders plan to write his name on their presidential ballot.

It’s an interesting option…

As Election Day is here, I have one final thought about what I am looking for in anyone running for office – and it comes from the weekly Parsha.

וַיָּחֶל נֹחַ אִישׁ הָאֲדָמָה וַיִּטַּע כָּרֶם:

Noah, the man of the earth, debased himself and planted a vineyard. (Bereishit/Genesis 9:20)

Following the flood, as the rhythm of life returns to normal, Noah gets busy working the land.  He plants a vineyard.  He drinks wine.  He gets drunk.  The story continues with how his sons reacted, but I want to focus on Noah.  There is a noticeable shift in how the Torah describes Noah before the flood compared to how Noah is referred now.

At first, Noah is an ish tzaddik, a righteous person.  Now, even before he gets drunk, Noah is an ish ha-adamah, a man of the earth.  Noah went from a man of vision to a man with far more modest goals. 

Life can do that sometimes.  There may be many obstacles that can get in the way of our big dreams for the future, but we should never give up on our vision and ideals and trying to make them a reality.

Noah was a victim of his experience in the flood.  I don’t know the cause for today’s tone in politics, but we should all be demanding the aspirational tone of the tzaddik and not settle for the mediocrity of the adamah.

I want aspirational candidates.  I want some positive ads.  I want a civil conversation about issues and not the top stories to be physical results or tax returns.

I want candidates who talk about how to create stronger communities, how to provide better healthcare for Americans, how to bring more people out of poverty, how to lower gun violence, how to provide better education for all of our children, and how to make the future better.

Am I asking for too much?  It is difficult to stay positive, but let’s get back to the business of dreaming big and aspiring to a bright future.

One who speaks with the voice of the tzaddik.  That’s who gets my vote.