Doing the research for Election Day

Evangeline and I today spent about 40 minutes looking at politicians’ web sites, discussing who deserves our vote Tuesday.

Tuesday is Election Day, when our incumbent Congressional representative is up for his 10th term. Opposing him is a candidate who is a new face to politics, one who has received the endorsement of our state’s Tea Party movement. Since she has not denied being a witch, and has not inadvertently produced a most excellent music video, I can only assume that she is in deep with occult forces plotting the damnation and destruction of our entire nation.

We looked at both web sites to see what the candidates say, in their own words, about what they hope to accomplish if elected. It was, all things considered, a wonderful moment of civics education for her, and a good experience for me, to look at the candidates and discuss with Evangeline each candidate would bring us if elected.

Evangeline liked several of the positions Anna Little lays out on her web site: for instance, embracing a responsible fiscal policy instead of the reckless deficit spending under presidents Reagan, Bush and Bush that have produced a crippling level of national debt. She also liked Little’s stand on education choice, and she was a big fan of Little’s stand on abortion. (Evangeline is in the pro-life camp.)

She was a little less certain of Little’s strict commitment to a market free of government regulation, which makes sense, when you consider that the shift to deregulation begun under President Reagan, is what led to disasters like the BP oil spell in the Gulf of Mexico, and the collapse of the stock market two years ago.

Evangeline lacked the context to make sense out of Little’s support for the proposed Enumerated Powers Act, which would require Congress to cite chapter and verse in the U.S. Constitution for any law it wants to enact. (I consider this act pure political showmanship, not worthy of any commentary, but kept that thought to myself. She’ll figure out soon enough how to recognize posturing on her own.)

I don’t know about her, but I was a little amused by the irony of someone running for political office who expresses nothing but contempt for government. That seems to be a common theme for Tea Party candidates, though.

And, doubtless influenced by her parents’ political views, Evangeline was appalled that anyone would want to repeal the health care reform that the Congress passed earlier this year. It amazes me that a nation as civilized and as modern as ours, one that regularly argues for justice in other nations and boasts of fighting tyranny, that we have a large political movement that essentially wants to give the power to profit-driven corporations, to hang people out to dry when a major illness comes.

This was around the time that Evangeline started digging in her feet and saying, “Don’t vote for her, Dad! Who else is running?” — and we hadn’t even got to the point where we learned that Little opposes government-sponsored research into alternative energy, supports off-shore drilling, and considers global warming to be a hoax. Nor had we reached the point of discussing Little’s opposition to immigration reform, such as granting amnesty status to those who entered the U.S. illegally but who have been here for decades, living and working as productive members of our society.

In the case of Frank Pallone, though, Evangeline loved everything he had to say on his web site. For my part, I do want to see a better-rounded picture of Pallone and his views. I generally like the views he shares on his site, but I don’t think any politician is foolish enough to put his entire record up there

Tomorrow if I have the chance, I want to take a look at some of the candidates for the county election with her. It’s a waste of a level of government, but it doesn’t hurt to be informed.