Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1960-11-08
Election Duy-796O

S~sSS&HVsB Ivy INV
This is the day when we witness
that final, majestic, awe-inspiring act
by the citizens of a free country in
choosing those by whom they consent to
be governed. Four years hence, we hope
and believe, the qualified citizens of
Washington will also be taking part in
that choice. For the demonstration of
representative government on election
day is the essence of the democratic
principle. The noble concept which
makes Of every man king when he
enters the secrecy of the voting booth is
nothing less than sublime.
But II the symbolism of election
day is sublime, some of the accepted
customs Of the campaign leading up to
election day are often ridiculous, con-
tradicting some of the things we admire
and believe in between elections. r.
revocable decisions reached on election
day follow many months Of play-acting
by candidates for the peoples choice. In
the interlude preceding election day,
we are led into sort Of never-never
land, a land of make-believe, where
to believe it is; where language is as
often used to obscure as to clarity the
issues, and where the principal actors
assume poStureS of righteous virtue far
removed from the mundane realities of
politics.
Come election day, looking back
over the long pre-convention and post
convention days, thought that occurs
to many people is that there must be a
better way to present the capabilities Of
those who are to be entrusted with ma
tional leadership.
The campaign is much too long.
The pace demanded of the candidates
has become an ordeal, for them and for
those who try to follow what they say
and do. The opportunities to pin them
down to hard fact are rare. The sur
face has only been scratched In utilizing
the public service potentials Of television
in political campaign, but even these
exploratory scratches cost major part
of the vast amounts of money collected
from private citizens to finance the cam
paigns. And many such contributions
are based on the expectation of getting
something tangible in return, which is
not as it ought to be.
A few but only few Of our legis-
lators, like Senator Gore of Tennessee,
seriously question the propriety Of rely
ing upon private contributions to meet
the steadily rising cost Of election cam
paigns So far their voices cry in the
wilderness, and reforms in this respect
are slow and far between. Yet it is not
too much to believe that just as the
States, early in our history, abandoned
the ownership of property as qualifl-
cation to vote, there will come time
when campaigns will be financed from
public funds, with all private contribu-
tions outlawed.
If the real issues of the campaign
have been somewhat blurred, the images
of the issues drawn by the candidates
are not much sharper. And the image
each man has sought to draw of him
self as a candidate is not necessarily
the image that will be left by his per-
Torrance as President AS Lord Bryce
pointed out many years ago, it is more
important for a political party to
choose a nominee who will make good
candidate than to choose the nominee
most apt to make good President.
Whoever wins this election may turn
out to be an excellent President, al
though no one can with certainty know
what sort of President he will be. Yet
there probably has never been. a time in
the history of this country when so
much depends on what sort of Presl-
dent the winner in todays election
will turn out to be.
There is an inclination to attribute
to the American electorate an instinc-
tive wisdom in its choice of leadership
although history has not always sup
ported such a belief. The glamour ano
the highjinks of political campaign d.
tend to obscure the tremendous respon.
sibility of the choice that rests with thu
electorate. If the choice turns out tt
be a poor one, the disposition of ou
people will be to blame it on the maj
who is chosen. We shall have reached
political maturity as people only whel
we realize, far in advance of an election
that we can rightfully blame poo
choice only on ourselves.