Elections and the “Little” Things
October 15th, 2006 - No CommentsTags:
I’m still not sure who I’ll be voting for when I go to the polls to help elect a new governor for Alaska. Clearly, we need some leadership. Frank Murkowski has been a disaster… though one we clearly deserved for electing him despite knowing exactly what kind of politician we were getting. Alaska’s voting bloc seems designed to reward repugnancy as long as it is within the voter’s personal ideology. As long as you stand publicly for: no control of firearms, no reproductive choice, no practical support for educating our youth or supporting our elders, and non-sensical/counter-productive “wars” on crime rather than intervention and rehabilitation then you can do no electoral wrong. If, like Murkowski senior, you become too big even for your party’s britches, you’ll be shown the door in favor of– apparently– ANYONE of the same party.
I do, however, know who I will NOT be voting for. Based on her lack of experience and inability to communicate, Sarah Palin would be a laughable gubernatorial candidate anywhere else in the U.S. She was the mayor of Wasilla… that’s like running for President of the United States based on one’s experience on a local School Board. But that’s not the biggest problem. For me, the little things count. I don’t believe that we are going to see changes in Alaska’s atmosphere regarding most plank issues regardless of who is elected. The real changes come in the little things. And in those little things, people like Palin continually sell out in favor of their party and the money that it provides.
A few months ago I attended a Chamber of Commerce meeting in Bethel, Alaska where the central topic of discussion was dental health aides. Most rural communities in Alaska don’t have any resident dentists. Many don’t even have the privilege of visiting dentists. Dental problems and diseases of the mouth and jaw are an epidemic in rural Alaska, but there’s no one there to treat them. As has been well proven through research and successful programs in other countries, Dental Health Aides– highly trained health care providers who are not MDs– are a solution to this problem. Not only are the standards of care as good as that provided by “real” dentists, dental aides are often better (because of simple amount of experience) at working with children, who suffer most due to lack of adequate care.
Who could oppose providing treatment where none is currently provided? The American Dental Association, that’s who. They worry that their already high fees will be diluted by adding Dental Aides to the market even though they refuse to serve these areas now. It’s a purely monetary, market protection that doesn’t pass a simple sniff test and which comes at the cost of our most senitive demographic groups. Not to mention that we’ve seen this same fight before over Physican’s Assistants– a system that now provides satisfactory health care to many Alaskans who would otherwise have none– and which has done nothing to interfere with Alaska’s high average cost for medical services by “regular” physicians.
Even if one grants that the ADA’s job is to take this position on behalf of their members, it doesn’t explain why Sarah Palin does so. The explanation for this is simple: the Republican Party– and Sarah herself– are in the ADA’s pocket and, like sightless animals following the smell of food, they go where the money goes regardless of the consequences.
I really feel it is time for a female governor, but I just can’t give Sarah Palin even a pity vote. She doesn’t deserve it on her merit and we deserve better as Alaskans. Now the question is– do I throw my vote away on a spoiler who I find myself agreeing with more and more often but for whom my vote would just be a “message” sent to people unlikely to be swayed anyway or support the lone candidate who has a real chance at defeating Palin? Palin will be supported blindly by Republicans regardless of her lack of credentials, experience, or credibility… is voting for Knowles the Democratic equivalent?