Maryville Daily Times Editorial: Election results reflect lack of voter concern

That is pathetic when regardless of administrations, local, state or national, we hear almost continuous complaints about government. It is our opinion that a person eligible to register to vote and a registered voter who is too uninterested in government to cast a ballot deserves what they get. And as far as most ears are concerned, they lose their right to voice complaints.

On a certain level I agree. I'm not sure who "most ears" are (I can guess), but I have to disagree that anyone who doesn't vote loses their right to voice complaints. The First Amendment says everybody has a right to "petition the Government for a redress of grievances," whether they vote or not. I agree, though, that it's inconsistent to complain and then not vote.

But here's where the MDT argument breaks down. Do we get what we deserve, or do we get what the backroom mechanics of the local political establishment and the MDT decide we need? Perhaps voters are conditioned by so many years of the same old same old from the same old same old that there's no expectation of anything different so why bother?

But you have to give the local Republican political establishment credit for creating this environment. They have a reliable base of voters they can get to the polls every time. And they have created an atmosphere where only a very few brave souls would even dare consider dragging themselves and their families through the mud to oppose them.

So the GOP machine is doing it's job and they're good at it. Local Democrats, progressives, and independent minded people interested in better government, however, are not doing their job. Job one is getting out to vote.

Here are some interesting facts. On Aug. 7th, 6,451 people voted for Democrat Mike Meares for Circuit Court Judge, the only contested partisan race on the ballot.

In Blount County, 9,305 people voted in the Feb. 2008 Democratic presidential primary. 13,373 Blount County voters voted for Democrat Harold Ford Jr. in the 2006 U.S. Senate election. 23,433 voted for Democrat Phil Bredesen for Governor in that same election. 15,042 voted for Democrat John Kerry for President in 2004.

Where did all those Democrats and Independents go? Democrats, progressives, and independent minded voters had a real chance to throw a monkeywrench, so to speak, in the cogs of the local GOP machine. So why didn't they show up?

Races for President, U.S. Senate and Governor certainly draw more interest than the election of a local judge. But here's another interesting fact. More people voted in the Aug. 7th Circuit Court election than voted for Blount County Mayor in Aug. 2006. And Judge Mike Meares got more votes in the Feb. primary than he did in the Aug. general election!

What this suggests is that while there appeared to be heightened interest (as compared to usual voter apathy) in the Circuit Court election, negative campaigning works -- primarily to suppress the opposition vote.

(It should also be noted that the local newspapers here and in Knoxville played a role in ginning up controversy where none really existed, which may account for some of the increased interest but not in a good way.)

The only puzzling thing is why run a negative smear campaign via swiftboating surrogates when you're starting out with a huge advantage? The answer, I suppose, is that the GOP establishment is good at their job. They take no prisoners, give no quarter, and leave nothing to chance.

That's something Democrats in Blount County, and all across America, are going to have to learn if we want to be a viable opposition party in the interest of better government.

Our friend and fellow blogger Russ McBee in Knoxville has graciously agreed to produce the Tennessee progressive blog roundup for the rest of August. (Thanks, Russ!)

Here is Russ's installment for this week, with a look at what Tennessee's best bloggers are talking about.