By STEVE BRAWNER
There are two ways of looking at last Thursday’s debate, and both can be done at the same time. One is that No Labels was right that the presidential race needed another viable choice. The other is to be thankful to live in a free country with an imperfect election system.
No Labels is the centrist political organization that tried for two years to create a “unity ticket” featuring a Republican or a Democrat running for president and a member of the other party running for vice president.
The group attained ballot access in a number of states, including Arkansas, but it couldn’t find any candidates. Nobody apparently wanted to risk their political future by bucking their party and running as an independent.
As a result, Arkansans are looking ahead to a rematch in November. Four years ago, former President Trump beat President Biden here, 62.4% to 34.8%.
Voters who don’t want to vote for either will have other choices – just not one with the potential broad-based appeal that No Labels’ candidate might have had.
Arkansas makes it relatively easy to qualify for the presidential ballot. It only takes 5,000 signatures, compared to 90,704 signatures required this year to qualify a proposed constitutional amendment.
Four years ago, there were 11 presidential candidates other than Biden or Trump. They collected 34,490 votes, or almost 3% of the total. The largest third party, the Libertarians, won just over 1%. Their candidate this time is Chase Oliver, 38. The most high-profile independent candidate this election, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has not yet qualified for the Arkansas ballot.
Trump is certain to win Arkansas and all six of its Electoral College votes. Because of that, Arkansans who don’t support him or Biden don’t have to feel like they must vote for one or the other. They freely can vote for one of these other candidates – either because they support them, or because they want to cast a protest vote against the two major parties. They cannot, however, write in a name, as they can in some states.
Even before the debate, many were questioning how a country of 330 million people could find itself choosing between these two candidates.
That’s understandable. I feel the same way. But you don’t need another columnist telling you that Biden is too old or that Trump told some whoppers.
It’s clear that the American political system needs some tweaks. We can consider those another day.
Instead, this Independence Day week, let’s not forget the reasons to be thankful for what we witnessed. Two men who want to be president – and who both have held the office – seek it again not at the point of a gun but by presenting themselves to the American people. They answered pointed questions from journalists who had no reason to fear what might happen to them afterwards. Even if the eventual winner is as bad as the loser’s supporters think he is, there are processes (and good people) in place to limit the short-term damage he can cause.
We could be living in Russia. There, the main opposition leader was poisoned and thrown into prison, where he died. And there are countries much worse than Russia.
A person can be both realistic about the current state of American politics and also thankful for what we have, because things could be much worse. Too much emphasis on the negative can make one cynical and pessimistic. There’s a market for those qualities these days, unfortunately, but they almost always limit one’s accomplishments and always limit one’s joy. Overemphasizing the positive, on the other hand, can make a person naive. But positive people generally accomplish more, and they’re happier.
A truth-seeking outlook tries to balance both, knowing no one will ever do it perfectly. The optimism/pessimism dynamic is like two sides of a coin that you toss in the air, trying to get it to land on its edge.
The coin will almost always land with one side facing up. Which is better? I’d rather be too optimistic, even with its downsides, than cynical and miserable.
That’s especially the case this week as we celebrate the blessings of living in a free country with an imperfect election system. Happy Independence Day, everyone.
Steve Brawner is a syndicated columnist published in 17 outlets in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com.