MY BRACKET has number 16 seed Alabama State as a virtual lock to beat Duke tonight. After all, the Blue Devils have gone 0-1 in the last four days, while the Hornets are red-hot coming off a victory in their conference championship game Saturday. Likewise, the minute it hit 70 degrees in Charlottesville this year, I set my winter coat on fire. I can't imagine needing heavy clothes in a town this warm. As absurd as logic like this may seem, it is all too commonly followed by democratic citizens across the world. From the United States to Europe, elections are consistently sabotaged by voters who fail to base their decisions on anything but the temporary concerns of the immediate past.
Spain is the most recent nation to fall into this myopic pattern during its parliamentary elections last Sunday. Despite the fact that the conservative Popular Party, which had held power for the last eight years, had been heavily favored up until the conclusion of the race, the Socialist Party ended up walking away with the majority of seats. This rapid shift in opinion came as a knee-jerk reaction to last week's train bombings in Madrid, believed to have been perpetrated by al Qaeda as retaliation for Spain's support of the Iraq war. In the wake of the attack, Spanish citizens flocked to the Socialists, who had campaigned on a platform of withdrawing Spain's troops.
Though the tragedy warrants an immense amount of concern, no one issue or recent event should be allowed to singularly determine the outcome of a national election. By casting their votes as an immediate reaction to the bombings, Spanish citizens effectively shut out all other issues, regardless of their long-term importance. Never mind that the Popular Party, according to CNN, boasted a domestic agenda that satisfied Spaniards for years, or that its administration oversaw an extended period of economic growth and stability. The Socialists received the honor of taking control of Spain's future because they proposed a quick answer for last week's problems.
Essentially, the Spanish people have cast a vote against their own wishes. Sure, there had long been an underlying resentment in Spain of the country's support of the American-led war, but it remained more or less dormant as the incumbent party enjoyed a gigantic lead in the polls for the bulk of the election season. Only after the attacks jarred the emotions of the electorate were feelings on Iraq translated into a priority issue. Thus, one can easily surmise that the cool-headed Spanish voter, living in a world without terrorists, would have preferred to vote for the free market-supporting platform of the Popular Party rather than for the Socialists.
Don't be fooled into thinking that the only nearsighted voters are those clustered around the prime meridian. Americans are just as notorious for letting the concerns of today override careful consideration of the complete political picture. Even high school government students know that the current state of the economy can doom or energize the candidacy of an incumbent president, despite the fact that politicians are rarely able to produce immediate economic effects. Though this country's most recent encounter with terrorism occurred in an election off-year, one need look no further than the spike in political approval ratings it provoked in order to understand how such an event could impact an election here.
The tendency of a democratic public to vote shortsightedly creates a political culture in which elected officials often feel the need to come up with rapid, active solutions to every recent problem. A single school shooting can give rise to a call for over-reactive gun control laws, and a second's worth of indecency on national television can send the FCC on a rampage of fines and new regulations. No politician wants to be caught on the wrong side of the public's whim, even those who realize the occasional wisdom of stepping back to allow matters to take care of themselves.
The architects of democracy would cringe to witness economic cycles and fanatical acts of violence serve to hijack the decision-making capacities of the electorate. Those fortunate enough to have a say in the actions of their government should make the effort to see past the here and now in order to truly act in their own best interests. Those who continue to behave shortsightedly might as well throw their ballots, along with their NCAA brackets, in the trashcan.
Chris Kiser's column appears Thursdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at ckiser@cavalierdaily.com.
Read More
PATEL: Personal development courses support students beyond the gradebook
By Heer Patel | 3 days agoThe University must rethink its approach to education beyond traditional major-specific requirements and mandate personal development courses.
EDITORIAL: Commercialization threatens U.Va.’s educational mission
By Editorial Board | 4 days agoAfter all, measuring the University’s worth in terms of accrued capital, operational efficiency and numerical rankings molds this space into just another cookie-cutter institution.
YOUNIS: Why every U.Va. student should say yes to English
By Ayat Younis | January 9, 2025Every student at the University, regardless of their primary field of study, can professionally and academically benefit from engaging with the English department.
