Here in Michigan, the primary season will begin soon. Right now it is the PR season where all manner of partial-truths get tossed about to confuse voters. Unfortunately, most voters will be unwilling to put in any effort to wade through these partial-truths to find out if there are any truths to be found.
The first phase of the PR season is intra-party sniping. Each candidate attempts to show that his primary opponent is less-than-qualified to hold the position being sought. So-and-so did this and So-and-so voted this way and So-and-so did this favor and So-and-so shifts with political winds. It's not easy being a voter. You want to do the right thing, but you have to go more on faith or belief or someone else's opinion than the facts you can determine for yourself.
As a voter, I have some candidate qualifications:
- ethical - does not use government for personal gain or gain for those who support him
- honest - resorts to the truth rather than partial-truths
- consistent - you know where the candidate stands on issues and you know he won't cave in at the first sign of pressure
- responsible - accepts the leadership and the consequences of his decisions as a leader
- accessible - doesn't delegate responding to the people he represents
- capability - the ability to lead; the ability to rally others to his position
There are more, but as you can see, I am focused on a candidate's character first and then his political positions second. Political statements from persons of shaky character are worthless. I may choose to not vote for a person of good character because I disagree with his political positions, but I will choose not to vote for a person of shaky character regardless of his political statements.
The problem, of course, is not assessing character as much as voters not giving a rat's ass about the candidate's character. The problem, of course, is that too many voters want to know "what is he going to give to me."