Spinless World

Last Thursday night Nick Popaditch and Bob Filner debated the issues before a standing room only crowd in Imperial, California. Both candidates had supporters present, although the overwhelming majority appeared to favor Popaditch.

Like much of today’s politics, this debate had its fair share of controversy, which didn’t take long to surface. In his opening statement Congressman Filner spent almost all of his allotted two minutes criticizing the way Mr. Popaditch has run his campaign by saying, “It has become, I think, the politics of slime,” and then in the last few seconds he said that he was “there to talk about the issues.” He then proceeded to go down a list of allegations he said Nick’s campaign has made about him. Later in rebuttal, Popaditch told Filner that he had never, nor would he ever, say anything about him that wasn’t true.

To be fair, this type of back and forth between opposing candidates is nothing new in politics or political debates. What does appear to be new in the politics of late is the open display of disdain demonstrated by a growing number of those currently in office toward their constituents with opposing views. Apparently, Congressman Bob Filner has decided to add himself to that list.

Below is a video of the debate. Although this video is about an hour long, I urge you to take the time to watch it.

Anyone who has read other articles on this site about Mr. Popaditch should be well aware of the fact that I support him and why. I have been very open about that support. In spite of the fact that I want Nick Popaditch to win the upcoming election, I have never criticized Bob Filner in any of my articles. In fact, the only time I have mentioned Mr. Filner is in this post where I spoke of him as Nick’s opponent and provided a link to a partial example of his voting record. There is a reason why I haven’t used this forum to criticize the opponent of the candidate I support.

Before Thursday night my opposition to Congressman Filner’s re-election campaign was merely based on the differences between our respective philosophical and political viewpoints. Like every American, he and I have the right to our own opinions as well as the right to express them. That is one of the many reasons that make this country so great.

But after witnessing in person the way Filner rolled his eyes when the crowd reacted to his comments, and sarcastically questioned their intelligence and called them “babies” when they disagreed with his views, I can no longer remain quiet.

It may be a cliché, but our elected officials do work for us. By electing people to office we bestow upon them the trust, honor and privilege of representing the voice of their friends and neighbors. It then becomes the elected official’s duty to live up to that trust and never lose respect for the people who hired them. When a sitting congressman or any elected official becomes so drunk with power that they begin to treat the very people they were hired to represent as if they were peasants, it is time for the people to fire them.

I said in my last post that if Nick Popaditch ever did anything to betray the trust I have in him, I would not hesitate to publically criticize him for it. It is only fair that I do the same with Congressman Filner. In my opinion, on Thursday night Congressman Filner proved to the people of the 51st district that he is no longer worthy of that trust. For that reason and that reason alone I respectfully request that my friends and neighbors in this district join me on November 2nd in sending a new congressman to Washington and on November 3rd informing the old one he’s fired.

Tags: 2010 Election, 51st California Congressional District, Arizona, Bob Filner, Border Security, Congressional Race, Health Care Reform, Immigration Law, Nick Popaditch, Veterans

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