October 18, 2006

Voting Is Not The Way to Make A Difference

This is a political column, and this is a political season, so it seems almost blasphemous to suggest that big problems in our big society may not have political answers. Let’s blaspheme.

Saturday required a quick morning trip to Meijer (the local one-stop-shopping mart for those not familiar). There was only one lady ahead of us in the checkout lane, buying a lot of groceries, to be sure – but still, one person. How long could that take?

I should know better than to confidently ask myself such rhetorical questions. First came the mountain of coupons. Then the writing of the check. Geez. Who still writes checks?

The next thing I knew the cashier was on the phone, talking to someone, while studying the lady’s check intently. Not a good sign.

“Do you want to use another form of payment?” she asked the lady, who looked down to survey her orange juice, beef patties, bacon and other groceries. It was a lot of food. There was no liquor. No cigarettes. Just normal groceries people need. She shrugged her shoulders, got behind her now-empty cart and pushed it off.

I was a little surprised she didn’t whip out a credit card, but as she made her way in the general direction of the customer service desk, I figured she was going to go argue with someone. She didn’t. She kept right on going out the door.

The cashier called a bagger to take the sizeable haul of groceries away, and that was that.

I was tempted to pay for her groceries myself. I had just been paid the day before. I had plenty of money in my account to cover it. But I also have major payments coming up, and I’ve learned from experience not to do such impulsive things when the consequences of such actions are all too obvious and very soon in coming.

Maybe this lady had never learned those lessons. Maybe she had bounced too many checks, run up too many credit cards and just generally overextended herself as a matter of course. Maybe she walked out of Meijer without any protest because she knows this routine far too well. Maybe it’s no one’s fault but her own. That doesn’t change the fact that she may have nothing to serve for dinner tonight.

So. The election is in three weeks. This is a real American’s real story, and if the election should be about anything, it should be about people like this lady, yes? Wait. No. Consider:

This would be a great vignette for either side’s campaign ads. Democrats: “See what life under Bush is like?” Republicans: “This is why we need economic growth.”

Look. I have had rough times, some of them not that long ago. When my company went through a rough patch earlier this year, I was forced to slash the salary of the best employee I ever had. Ironically, she had to get a part-time job at Meijer for two months to help her make do. One day a lady came through her lane looking rather haggardly, and purchasing an unusually large quantity of dog food. Speculation arose that she may not have a dog.

Things got better for us. But when they were bad, it was not the fault of any politician. And no politician could have solved the problem. We had to solve it ourselves. We’re still working at solving it. It’s our problem.

There are people who could help us. There are people who are helping us. But none of them hold public office. The rejected-check writer and the dog-food buyer probably need someone’s help as well. I’m not sure whose, but I don’t think anyone who wins or loses an election this year will make a damn’s worth of difference for either one of them.

This is the worst thing about every election season. Every societal problem, every personal vignette, is spun and presented as an issue reflecting first and foremost on the political process. Who will help these people? The Democrats or the Republicans?

Hey. You. You help them. Don’t ask me how. Figure it out. You know someone like this. You know you do. Elected officials can support good policies, but they cannot and should not become intimately involved in the lives of every American who has a problem. And only those who can and should will really help anyone.

I hate election-year promos that tell people that the most powerful way to make a difference is to register and vote. It’s not. The most powerful way to make a difference is to make a freaking difference.

This is Column # DC55.  Request permission to publish here.