Tomorrow’s the big day here in Alabama. I’ve changed my mind about three times so far – today.

I know who I’m NOT voting for, but that leaves me with a lot of untested candidates. Still, the GOP primary will likely decide most of the office holders for the next two years – this is the problem with one party states, the primary is more decisive than the general election – so I’ve got to do my due diligence and my civic duty.

Seriously, I like politics. I read and listen to political things all the time. But I would rather have a root canal than pick a candidate – at least they give you pain killers for the root canal.

Nevertheless, pick candidates I will. Some will be a coin flip – I don’t have strong reasons to vote for one over the other. Most will be candidates I already know something about – Alabama has a short political coattail and everyone on it knows each other… Sigh… A few will be lesser of two evils. All in all, it’ll be a muddled mess.

So why bother, you say? Simple – all politics is a muddled mess. I’m not describing random apathy – I’m describing a pretty normal visit to a primary voting booth. Only a very few people are really up-to-date on state and local politics. It takes work to keep up with the local news – and then dig around for all the real news. Most of us don’t have that kind of time – this is why we vote straight party in the general election!

But in Alabama, as in most US states in 2022, the real decision about who will hold the office is being made at the primary level. Maybe my input won’t be the very best – so what? The fully informed voter is a myth. Never let the perfect – especially the unattainable perfection of being fully informed about every political candidate – get in the way of the good. Better to pick the best you can than let some other idiot pick by throwing darts.

We’re all bad about seeing elections as competitions. Sure, there’s a winner and a loser, but that doesn’t make it a sport. Elections are job offers. They follow after the world’s worst system of job interviewing – campaigning. We’re hiring the guy that has to do all the important but boring stuff and it’s not really different from any other HR department – at the end of the day, you have to use what you got and pick one.

Better a half way decently informed voter than a fence sitter who can’t stand not being perfect. The half way informed voter has an impact; the fence sitter just gets splinters.

See y’all at the polls!