And it’s only the primaries. Right now, candidates are only eating each other — unless, of course, you count all the Democrats running ads talking bad about certain Republicans. Because Democrats’ appetite for power apparently includes eating any and everything on the table. 

After all, Democrats nominated Joe Biden after Kamala Harris called him a racist and a sexual abuser in a debate. Then again, Democrats let her be the nominee for vice president. Apparently, Democrats live in denial of truth, slander, misogyny and irony. 

But this column isn’t solely about Democrats — no matter what levels of worse they take things to in politics. This is about politics and how it permeates every aspect of out lives. Because it does, the lust for holding power is so pervasive it attracts the worst in our citizenry at almost every level to run for office. 

Of all the lessons I’ve learned in my 60 trips around the sun, this one applies to politics the most: There’s good and bad people in every aspect of life — every race, every business, every church, every family and … every everything. That means in politics, there’s good and bad going in every election as well. You know how I know the good and bad comparison is an absolute, eternal truth? Trump said it about Charlottesville, and Democrats went apoplectic — no better truth meter than that. 

Except as my years on this orb continue to add up, I find less good and more and more bad. If you need proof beyond the Democrat debates of 2020, just look at the ads running in our local primaries. Sure, you hear a few about what so-and-so and such-and-such will do once elected. On a personal note, I never vote for someone promising to fight for me or put a stop to reckless spending because they’ve never spoken to me as to what to fight for. And let’s be honest, reckless spending is all they do in Washington and Denver. Once elected, they’re now an exclusive, omnipotent member of the reckless spending club. Because other than a select few who actually do constitutional things once in office, it’s already about the next election. 

This is why we get ads between Republicans telling us how bad their primary opponents are. Heck, we now have Democrat ads telling us how bad Republicans are. And everyone has an ad about protecting the integrity of our elections — the worst being all of those running for positions that protect election integrity — because it’s so sacred both sides have been screaming about it while doing nothing about it for decades. It’s so bad we even have court cases today along with a state takeover of counties it doesn’t like for how things are being run.  

It’s hard to find an election integrity solution there. And even harder to expect one given the folks running for the office are the ones in court or the ones doing the takeovers. Like almost all government positions, it’s always about control and not solutions. I’ve never seen such image-driven campaigns as I have over voting integrity at every level of government. If you have to convince people through public relations you have integrity, you probably don’t. The solutions to having safe and secure elections are simple.  

Make election day a holiday with strict hours — no votes allowed after. Make people register annually and include a way for shut-ins to be registered. End mail-in voting and ballot harvesting. And for  the love of all that’s holy, get rid of the idiotic laws like the one Colorado has where someone can rescind party affiliation and vote against a candidate in the primaries. Make the parties pay for primaries and hold them separate from general election days. Let the cheating and infighting remain private until they come up with a candidate to put on the general election ballot.
If anyone else wants on, let them meet the requirements on their own. Forensically audit each ballot,  announce winners at the end of the week and get rid of makeup-slathered talking heads calling races. 

This current system is set up to put into place more bloated, progressive bureaucracies and laws leading us toward the end of freedom. After all, Republicans need to be squeaky clean and they aren’t. Just look at the ads. And Democrats can be as dirty as they come. Just look at who they nominate. 

The hard truth is simple. Our elected officials are out of touch with the people. They live in a different world. They rule, not govern. I can only make a knowledgeable choice in those I actually know and have vetted beyond ads and smears. And this time around, Lauren and Bobbie have my vote. I might just write in myself for the others, even though I’m afraid of what ads would say about me. 

How in the world are we going to elect good people in the system we have today? Let’s face it, we can’t. The only real way is to remove the unconstitutional power from all levels of government that’s the root cause. But who’s running on that? That candidate can’t get a word in, let alone a vote.

Craig Hall is owner and publisher of the Business Times. Reach him at 424-5133 or publisher@thebusinesstimes.com.