BLOG: Voting is not a team sport
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My wife is a lifelong Steelers fan; this, despite the fact that she has spent her entire adult life in Philadelphia. Born in the Pittsburgh area, she constantly informs me that Steeler fans are born into it, and it doesn’t change.
This is a good thing, as people should be loyal to their hometown sports teams. Although this joyous loyalty is the heart and soul of sports, that same concept should not be applied to politics. In spite of what you are led to believe, one should never consider loyalty when it comes to exercising your most sacred right as a U.S. citizen. Voting is not about party loyalty or staying true to the “team” that your family and friends assigned to you as a kid. It is about selecting a person to represent you, your personal beliefs and life agenda.
It is almost never a clear choice. Most people do not line up issue for issue with any political party or philosophy. The politicians, the major parties and even much of the media likes to label us as Republicans, Democrats, conservative or liberals, and then proceed to tell us how we must think about issues and candidates.
They lead us to believe that if we don’t happen to agree with the party, we are being disloyal. They might even call us disparaging names like, “Republican in Name Only (RINO)” or “Reagan Democrats.” They spin the facts about many issues to try to convince us that things are always going well for the home team. They print up banners and flags and have pep rallies, all to get us in the team spirit and work very hard to foster the sports team analogy so we will forget the issues and events and stick to that home team loyalty.
Here is a new thought about this sport analogy problem that might guide you through this rough election cycle. If you need to think of a team, think about voting like you are picking your fantasy sports team. Study all the players on all the teams, look at all their stats (like maybe how they voted on issues that you care about) and consider how they will perform when they are on your team. Take a look at their positions on public health and safety such as access to health care, social justice, gun violence and a sugary beverage tax. Find out how they voted on the last bill that affected optometry. If they are a rookie, look at how they performed before they joined the pros. You can’t tell me that even a diehard Steelers fan would only pick Steelers for their fantasy football team.
So, whether you vote by mail or in person, forget the pundits, forget the team and vote for each person or issue on the ballot as if your life depended on it. Because, in fact, it does!
By the way, go Eagles!
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