This election is the ultimate test of voter judgement

Almost everyone wants what is best for their families, their communities, and our country and they rely on the election of a President who will make changes that will improve conditions in those areas.

The Presidential candidates have told us what they intend to do and the promises are either enchanting or horrifying, depending on your viewpoint and level of experience. If the voters are good judges of human nature, they will select a candidate who delivers what he promises.

If they vote on what they believe the candidates have told them, their expectations will undergo some readjustment in the months to come. The difference between what a Presidential candidate says and what he can deliver depends on his personal integrity and on his ability to mobilize support in Congress and the Senate.

There is also a difference between what a candidate says and what he means. Campaign promises undergo a predictable downsizing in the months after the election. No matter which candidate wins, the first announcement will be that more time will be required to institute promised changes because the incumbents have left things in such a sorry state of affairs.

The next announcement will be that more money is required to make the promised changes than expected and that some programs will have to be delayed indefinitely.

The announcements of advisors and key staff will disillusion some of the most dedicated campaign workers because this will probably signal a major shift in the new Administrations priorities away from what was promised to voters over to what must be delivered to fulfill promises to key supporters and financial backers.

If voters listen only to candidate promises and haven't looked closely at what the candidate has done and who he has associated himself closely with, there may be some disappointment after the election.

The candidates have done their best to show us what they are capable of. Voters will decide what promises fit their concept of a desirable future.

By next Spring, we will know for certain how well the voters have chosen. Let us hope that the new President has a higher approval rating than the current one.

Comments

[susan]

Very intelligent and more, realistic. I'm with you.

[Barbara Saunders]

I don't know if voter judgement can ever be determined. If a president does well, we do not know if the other guy (or gal) would have done better. If a president does poorly, same thing, we will never know if the other guy would have done worse.