On July 17th the Herald Tribune published my letter in which I laid out a baseline of conduct and behavior through which all political candidates should be held to when you’re determining who to vote for. There are many politicians these days that clearly don’t, but we should expect more from these aspiring leaders, at all levels of office. We should have the expectations that they will engage in civil discourse, respect the rule of law, and lead by example. The trend towards the nasty, vulgar, dehumanizing, and threatening has reached all new lows this campaign season. It’s not irreversible, but changing the direction of things will depend upon what criteria we apply and what we will and will not tolerate as voters. Time to reset the expectations, November 8 will be here before we know it.
Criteria for deciding who gets your vote
July 17th, 2022
Sarasota Herald Tribune
As another election cycle approaches, there are some things that all voters, especially moderates and independents, should be mulling over.
With our political dialogue held hostage by extreme elements, it rests upon patriotic, decent and fair-minded centrists to right the ship and get us back on course.
Ask yourself the following: Will I support a candidate who engages in fear-mongering and peddles destructive culture wars or one who is working for the betterment of all Floridians?
Does a candidate support and accept our democratic election system, the will of the American people and certified results or does he/she embrace authoritarianism and baseless conspiracies, and act to suppress voter turnout?
Does a candidate attempt to work across the aisle and compromise sometimes to get things done or does he/she lash out in anger when questioned, bully students and educators, and punish businesses when they speak up for their employees?
Has the candidate sincerely condemned and rejected violent language and threats toward his/her political opponents? Or does he demonize them, use violent imagery and rhetoric, and cultivate the support of organized extremist groups?
These are important criteria for all of us to consider as we approach election season this fall.
Seth Stottlemyer, Sarasota