DesotoExplorer.com / Full filing slate of candidates encouraging

Archive for Thursday, June 12, 2008

June 12, 2008

Incumbents may not agree, but we were pleased that candidates stepped forward to ensure races this election cycle for every elected position that will appear on the De Soto ballot.

Although this is not meant as an endorsement, we also were impressed with the quality of candidates who have chosen to run against longtime incumbents. From Jim Slattery in the U.S. Senate race against Pat Roberts, to Nick Jordan’s bid to unseat Dennis Moore, to Calvin Hayden’s race against John Toplikar in the 6th District Johnson County Commission race, we see many candidates that can expand the debate and may help overcome any complacency on the part of voters or incumbents. We even welcome the board slate of candidates fielded by the Libertarian Party as a way to bring another perspective to the citizenry and additional option in the voting booth.

At its foundation, democracy is about an informed citizenry having choices and of candidates testing ideas before the electorate. That doesn’t happen when office holders retain their positions with no opposition or opponents with no realistic chance of winning, which happens all to often even for Congressional seats. That, in turn, leads to a feeling of entitlement that encourages the corruption that has been the downfall of the last two Congressional majorities.

It also encourages staid policy and an unwillingness to look for new solutions. And if ever there was a need for fresh ideas it is now with a difficult war, a troubled economy and the county shackled to a mode of transportation that is becoming more unsustainable with every day seemingly bringing record high oil prices.

It is very likely those very challenges that encouraged challengers and incumbents to file as candidates.