“The Fine Print”, by Michael Schrader

WE NEED TO BE GUIDED BY CONSCIENCE, NOT GOVERNMENT

(Written 11 November 1998. Published in the Neighborhood Journal. Posted 05 August 2009.)

As an engineer, I never stop asking, "Why?" After all, answering the question "Why?" is the whole key to the process of scientific discovery, and it is through the process of discovery that we learn and grow.

This same scientific process can be applied to elections. Forget all of the spins; it's merely propaganda. I like to take the numbers, precinct by precinct, and do some investigating to see why things came out the way they did. I have found throughout the years that there tend to be rather distinct patterns that dictate the outcome of elections. For example, when I ran for County Commissioner four years ago, I discovered that while I won the rural precincts, I got demolished in the "city" precincts (if you can call towns of 10000 "cities"). I attributed it to the fact that I had pretty much irritated the Farmington City Council with my persistent requests that they make developers follow the law, they not be so lax on granting waivers for everything, and that they enforce the laws they had on the books. (A novel concept!) However, after having another election under my belt, I do not believe that my initial analysis of the 1994 results was correct. I don't think my loss in 1994 had anything to do with the City Council. (Let's be realistic here--how many people actually know what their Council is up to? How many really care?) Upon further review, I attribute my defeat to bigotry among the electorate.

How did I reach such a conclusion? Well, after this year's elections, I once again analyzed the results precinct by precinct. What I discovered was surprising. You see, despite the fact that I live in the heart of Little Rock, I got thoroughly trounced in the city precincts. In these precincts, I finished third out of three candidates. Even in my own neighborhood, I finished dead last. Yet in the newer neighborhoods, and on the fringes of the city, I finished a strong second. It was only after analyzing the results that it hit me--I tracked almost exactly the same in Little Rock in 1998 as I did in St. Francois County, Missouri, in 1994. In both elections, I did better in the less densely populated precincts than I did in the more urban precincts. What I found out this past week is that I was viewed as a Republican and thus I did poorly in solidly liberal Democratic areas. And cities tend to be more liberal and Democratic.

Interestingly, when I analyzed, precinct by precinct, the Republican candidates, the results were very similar to mine--they did poorly in the urban areas. What does it all mean? Quite simply, it means that we have an electorate that is so bigoted that it refuses to vote for anything Republican. Under any circumstances. Even when the candidate is not a Republican.

As long-time readers to this column know, I am not a Republican. I have not espoused a Republican agenda, or said "Vote Republican", or anything like that. And I have not espoused the Democrats for that matter, either. Rather, I try to stay out of the party label fry and discuss issues. In fact, if you have to give me a label, I am unabashedly libertarian. I believe that we as human beings are given free will by God and that we should be able to choose how to live our lives without interference from anybody.

The problem with free-will libertarianism is that it is not easily categorized. Democrats that I have talked to have considered me a radical; Republicans have considered me a reactionary. Persons on both sides of the spectrum consider free-will to be rather dangerous, because you cannot play "king-maker" if people are actually allowed to think for themselves.

What, then, are people who actually believe in the concepts of free-will and personal responsibility to do? It's time to band together and show that we have the ability to make decisions for ourselves. If we do not, then we will be reduced to mindless automatons. (Stay tuned.)

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