Voters deserve a choice
Monday, October 30th, 2006
By Chris Fitzsimon
Rob Christensen, Staff Writer
They trotted out a couple of the ol’ boys last week to talk about our rigged political system.
Tim Valentine, a Democrat, and Bill Cobey, a Republican, have forgotten more about Tar Heel politics than most young whippersnappers are ever likely to learn.
Both served in Congress. Both were chairmen of their respective political parties. Both served as high-ranking members of administrations in Raleigh. Both have a lot of gray hair.
And both think something has gone awry with a political system in which few voters will have meaningful choices when they go to the polls in nine days.
That is because the legislature has used redistricting — which must be done after every census — to make most seats as competitive as an old Soviet-style election. Self-preservation is one of the strongest basic drives.
"It’s like in the DNA of politicians," said Cobey, a Durham County Republican. "If they have an opponent — it could be Humpty Dumpty — it will scare them to death."
Most Tar Heel politicians have nothing to fear. To lose, they would, in the immortal words of former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards, have to be discovered in bed with a live boy or a dead girl. (more…)
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