Elections

Is the issue who is running, or who is voting? Election issues don’t change much from year to year. Whether candidates are focusing on education, kids' futures, jobs, climate change, immigration, or federal spending, we are used to hearing the same things from the same faces. Trendy hot buttons are good for attracting attention, but few politicians have the stomach for risking them all the way to the polling booth. Donald Trump's candidacy shows what can happen when you pound on issues that inflame the electorate. Jeb Bush proves what happens when you drop the ball and fall back on tried and true.

When it comes to who is voting, the answer is not many of us. Why don’t Americans respect one of the most fundamental aspects of our political process, a right that people in other countries are willing to risk punishment and even death to secure?

Instead of trying to get more Americans involved in the political process by making good on campaign promises and giving us a reason to show up to vote, some liberal members of Congress are trying to quash state voter ID laws, denying that vote fraud even exists and insisting that we are turning eligible voters away. With a presidential election coming soon we are hearing more of the same on the stump, but will enough Americans cast their ballots that the results will mean something?

2016 has brought an unfortunate twist to conservative election year politics. After years of fearing a Hillary Clinton candidacy Republicans are using Donald Trump as an excuse to turn their frustrations inward. In light of the party’s failure to accomplish anything of substance after Republicans retook Capitol Hill it would seem that the prospect of forward momentum and the chance to put one of their own in the Oval Office would be energizing. Not so. The knives are out and the backstabbing is underway in earnest.

Conservatives with the stomach to watch the start of the pageantry in Cleveland got an eyeful when Trump made his appearance. It almost made us forget what went before it, including the Cruz contingent’s efforts to throw a wrench into the proceedings. Drama aside, the 2016 GOP convention will be a half-hearted kickoff to what will be one of the ugliest, most divisive election seasons in memory and that’s before we even begin discussing Trump’s Democratic nemesis, Hillary Clinton.

The elections category discusses why some political issues are trendy and why some punch our buttons, the ethics of the stump, vote fraud, the never ending partisan war for our hearts and minds, and internal strife in the Republican Party as regulars and the Tea Party struggle for control while newcomers like Trump threaten to steal the show.