Every human being has the unalienable right to choose. An unalienable right is any function of human nature that is exercised naturally and yet does not disadvantage any other human being from exercising their natural functions. If I choose to drink Coca Cola as opposed to Pepsi Cola that is a choice I make that does not disadvantage another person’s choice about what they drink. But, if someone takes the labels off the products so that I can’t know what they are, then my right to choose is at a disadvantage. There are laws that enforce – protect – my right to know what product I am choosing.
The Ravalli County Government Study Commissioners have placed on the Primary Ballot five issues that the voters are asked to choose upon. Three of those choices are proper issues that concern the mechanics of government; the number of county commissioners, length of terms in office, and whether to vote at large or by districts. But the last two issues ask voters to decide if elections shall not inform the voter of a candidate’s party affiliation; the question is partisan or non-partisan elections? These are not about the mechanics of government, but rather the right of the individual voter to know something about any of the candidates that appear on a ballot.
Is our choice of candidates of less importance than the contents of a bottle of pop? We have laws to protect our rights to choose the products we buy, yet, we are asked to dismiss important information about the people who will govern us!
The proponents of non-partisan elections argue that this is simply information that does not belong on the ballot (seriously?) but knowledge that informed voters should seek elsewhere. In one public meeting such a proponent expresses ridicule of an elderly woman who became distressed at the polls because the “R” and the “D” had been removed and she could not know which party her choice of candidate was affiliated! Upon what “naturally superior” primus does one mock another human being’s ability to choose? Now they wish for the majority in Ravalli County to mock everyone’s ability to choose; to what end? To force voters to be “more informed”?
To that end, this raises a question about how much information a candidate will be required to provide to the County Clerk and Recorder (when they register to run for office) – or to the public in general! The proponents of non-partisan elections do not make clear whether the removal of party affiliation would also remove any obligation of the candidates to ever divulge his or her affiliation. They are not required to declare religious beliefs. Why should they make public that they are Democrats? If that information isn’t available on the ballot then who is to say I will be able to discover this information by any means?
Simply put, the majority is being asked to decide what the minority can or cannot have. This is NOT about government. It is about personal choices – our individual right to choose! This is never an issue for the majority to decide. We are NOT a democracy for this very reason; democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for lunch!
“…democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’” Isaac Asimov
Victoria Tartaglia
Hamilton