Bad Candidates Don't Just Happen

We create them

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

Every election cycle I am earnestly informed that I must vote for a terrible candidate because the other candidate is more terrible—which is often true, but it’s a sad reason to vote for anyone. When these conversations happen the cycle has progressed so far that I am locked in with these two unqualified politicians. The two parties have chosen their candidates and that’s it.¹ Now I have to choose one. The moral burden is upon me to choose the lesser of two evils in this moment.

The problem with this approach to politics is that it places all of the focus on the moment of the vote. And everything that came before that moment is irrelevant. But bad candidates don’t just fall from the sky on election day (although they are common enough that they may grow on trees). They are encouraged, supported, and funded. Their weaknesses and failings are overlooked or downplayed. They are voted on in primaries and in polls.