Conyers Should have to go the Write-in Route

Long time Congressman John Conyers has failed to get enough petition signatures to get his name on the August Democratic Primary ballot. Yet that likely will not count him out of the race. He has too many friends in high places, too great of an amount of name recognition, and too much clout in Washington for that to happen. He'll pull every string he can to ensure another term in Washington. Thus says today's Detroit Free Press, and not without truth. The strengths Mr. Conyers has certainly play in favor of his reelection bid. He could surely do well with a write-in campaign, and he may even be able to use his legal beagles to have his name put on the actual ballot anyway. What's not to love?

Well, for starters, what this says about our political system and the voters who effectively run it makes love difficult. That anyone could get elected and reelected so easily as John Conyers (and the recently retired John Dingell, who's wife is clearly intending to use the Dingell name to take his seat, and countless other politicos throughout our history) have been over the years reflects poorly on our democracy. It indicates that voters are lazy and will cast ballots for the least of reasons, among those simple electoral longevity (which really tells us nothing of ability or accomplishments) and that they know a name. On this basis great decisions are, presumably, made.

Nor does our system put candidates and office holders in a good light. Conyers has been in Congress for almost 50 years, which mean he's faced election twenty five times, and fifty if you count primaries and general elections together. Yet he didn't realize, or had organized a staff which didn't realize, or he just doesn't care, that to be on the ballot requires a certain number of petition signatures turned in by a definite time. This cannot have been news to him. Yet he missed the deadline, and now looks to secure his place on the ballot and in Congress in any way, by any means necessary.

This is not saying that all of the means at his disposal are wrong; he absolutely could mount a write in campaign and no one could rationally quibble. It merely demonstrates that he appears to believe in a kind of divine right to his seat in the House of Representatives. It is an arrogance too common in modern American politics.

Yet we wonder why so many citizens see elected officials in such a poor light.

Conyers and the Lazy Voter

In the newly drawn 13th Congressional District of Michigan, Congressman John Conyers is involved in a true political race for the first time since he won a seat in the House way back in 1964. Still, he is expected to win the Democratic Primary for the seat on August 7th. Why? Name recognition.

If there is a lousy excuse to cast a vote for someone, anyone, this is it. Merely having been around for almost 50 years should not grant a guy title to an office. Yet it all too often does. And we wonder why we get such awful politicians.

The Congressman barely campaigns. He rarely participates in candidate forums; he plays it safe. Politically, it makes sense. The more off the cuff things you say the greater the chance of saying the wrong things, and debates and forums no matter how well practiced are rife with chances to say the wrong thing. Politically, it makes a kind of sense. Practically, it helps only insofar as there are lazy voters to prop up incumbents.

As such, Representative Conyers' above the fray approach works. For him. But does it work for his constituents? Not in any useful sense, no. Still, it keeps him a cushy job and, to be completely fair, how many of us would love the type of job security which the situation gives him?

What that attitude says about both Conyers and the voters of his district speaks volumes. Unfortunately, that attitude says words which neither will hear.