The expectations surrounding any election are high. We like to think that as voters we are choosing between two positives, opting for one set of policies and values over another of comparable validity. Yet in 2006 it is hard to see what the vote is "for" when one considers the options presented to us. The current Republican national strategy can be reduced to a simple slogan: "Yes, we know we're bad, but they're worse. Much worse. Trust us," to which Democrats respond "You know they're bad, and we're not them, so give us a try….whoever we are." As arguments go, we have to say the Democrats' is at least more logical. Considering the level of incompetence and corruption afflicting the party in power, there comes a point where any change, even an unknown one, is better than "staying the course". The Republicans ask wavering voters to trust them, yet again, and trust that they are telling the truth about their opposition despite their tattered credibility. If there were no reason to doubt them the approach might work, but with a parade of disgraced and indicted party leaders as messengers, the appeal to trust does not make much sense anymore. Perhaps, though, it is the only option left, since, with a string of highly visible policy failures still fresh in voter's minds, Republicans certainly cannot run on accomplishments. There simply haven't been that many.

Despite the apparent dismay we have with the party in power, the Ellenville Journal has, after some thought, chosen not to endorse particular candidates during this election cycle. Instead, we choose to endorse an ideal, a set of values we would like our representatives to embrace, if not wholly embody.

1. We want our representatives to truly revere and preserve all life, not just those deemed "innocent."

2. We want our representatives to respect learning and education, even if it contradicts personal faith.

3. We want our representatives to obey the law, and act like an example, not an exception.

4. Our representatives should protect the weakest and most vulnerable members of society, not scapegoat them or corral them behind fences.

5. Our representatives should exercise basic fiscal restraint, spending only what they can reasonably expect to earn.

6. And most of all, we would like our representatives to stop blatantly lying to us.

There might not be a candidate in all of America who can live up to these ideals. We really don't know. But when the curtain of the voting booth closes behind us and we are faced with those funny red levers, we will ask ourselves what individual, what party can at least come close. Then we will vote however we do, go home, and hope for the best.

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