ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, November 5, 1996 TAG: 9611050075
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
IF A CITIZEN listened only to pundits and pollsters, he might see little reason to vote today. None of the candidates amounts to much, he might say to himself. The outcome already is decided.
Such a citizen would be wrong.
Granted, today's election isn't the most exciting we've seen. In a time of relative peace and prosperity - and reaction against ideological extremes - none of the candidates on the ballot evokes strong feelings, except for the contempt that some Republicans feel for John Warner and that many more feel for Bill Clinton. Granted, too, most people expect the Republican Warner and the Democrat Clinton to win.
So what? Democracy's moderating tendency, if at times boring, is a good thing. And elections can never be left to pundits and pollsters. When opinionaters spread disdain for all candidates or claim little is at stake in the balloting, when surveyors say it's all over before the fact - that is when voters must seize the event and make it theirs.
The electorate must take their election back from politicians, too. Many voters rightly are revolted by the spectacle of big money flowing into campaigns. But ever-lower voter-turnout only cedes the battleground to the special interests, who would like nothing more than to dull the public's voice.
This year's presidential race, to be sure, seems an exercise in diminished expectations and lack of suspense. It's no re-run of 1992. Clinton, like Bob Dole, is basically a compromiser and coalition-builder - and not an unknown quantity in public office. And yet it matters greatly who wins: Consider Supreme Court appointments alone. And if you think your vote doesn't count, consider the message, one way or another, that a varying margin of victory sends.
Similarly, the congressional races, though generating some suspense in the aggregate, are no re-run of 1994. Then, GOP rebels, running on their "Contract With America," swept both houses and delivered a stinging repudiation to Democrats. This year is quieter.
And yet, anyone who thinks it doesn't matter who wins hasn't been following the House campaigns in the 5th, 6th and 9th Districts. And if you assume neither party will win enough seats to dominate the other, then consider the importance of electing effective legislators who can work with members of the other party.
If apathy seems in abundant supply among citizens this year, sobriety might be as well. Having rejected a Republican president in 1992 and a Democratic Congress in 1994, voters may be searching for a sensible center. That task, just as much as lurching course corrections, requires an informed and active electorate.
Indeed, a serious debate is going on in America. On one side are those more inclined to believe that the answer to our problems is to reduce the size and intrusions of government and let free markets take over. On the other are those more inclined to believe that government needs to play a helpful role in aiding and easing the transition to a new kind of economy.
Citizens may decide the answer lies somewhere in the middle. But that doesn't make voting any less important, if imperfect, a way to engage the debate and affect its outcome.
Those who bother to vote today will decide the makeup of the U.S. House and Senate, as well as the next occupant of the presidency. Virginians will be voting on these offices, and on five proposed amendments to the state constitution. Surely that is plenty of reason to vote, without any good reason not to vote.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICS PRESIDENT POLITICS CONGRESSby CNB