by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Tomorrow is the Primary Election Day in Missouri, and as it comes and goes, so too will my main reason for walking out to the mailbox every day.
The races in Missouri in general, and in rural Missouri in particular, are almost all between Republicans, and tomorrow will sort that out and tell let us know which Trump sycophant will be the GOP's official candidate for each office. Some will have a Democratic challenger in November, but not many Republicans at the local level will be opposed, and a serious challenger would be extremely rare. (Two years ago in Howell County, where I live, an "Independent" did win a race against an unpopular Republican, but that was definitely a one-off.)
This year the big thing in local campaigning has been thin, slick, cardboard adverts that resemble large postcards with messages on both sides. They come in several sizes, but the most common are six by eleven inches, and eight-and-a-half by eleven inches. ( I like them because they are flimsy and easy to tear-up once I finish scanning their absurd content.)
These cards have been extremely popular among the Republican candidates, and I have received several for most of the Republicans who are in challenged primary races. They began several weeks ago with positive messages about the candidates and their qualifications, positions, and how much they loved Trump, God, and their families - in that order, but the flurry of self-aggrandizement quickly spiraled down into nasty attack ads on their opponents. (I'm okay with that because I know that being positive is not a skill that comes naturally to these goobers.)
This week in attack ads I have learned that one Republican candidate for statewide office "betrayed the blue," another "works for his liberal donors," yet another "betrayed conservatives," one "opposed tax cuts for Missouri farmers." another is a "tax-hiker," and for all of you racists out there one is even "soft on thugs."
Garbage in, garbage out I always say, and the Missouri GOP has it piled high and steaming on this year's primary ballot!
The most memorable card of the past couple of weeks was the full-sized one that came from a candidate for state representative, a kindly looking older gentleman who has a long history in our county's politics. He and his wife were pictured on one side of the card along with his positions and a statement saying that he would "fight every day in the State House to protect the sanctity of life and uphold our constitutional right to bear arms." It was accompanied by endorsements from Missouri Right to Life and the NRA.
On the reverse of that card was a photo of a smiling, blue-eyed, white baby with the caption "every human has the right to life" and below that a photo of a flag-draped Declaration of Independence with some bullets lying atop it and the caption "and every American has the right to protect it."
(One wonders how the classroom of dead first-graders in Newtown, Connecticut, or the classroom of dead fourth-graders in Uvalde, Texas, fit into that tableau of life and guns.)
What a stretch! And what blatant hypocrisy! But that's what passes for political discourse here in southern Missouri.
Get out and vote!
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