Oh, yes. Let there be no doubt about it. I am totally tired, fatigued, worn out, and anxious about the 2024 presidential race. Add to that the Senate and House of Representatives races. I receive fundraising requests, endorsements, and opponent put downs by US mail, e-mail, and social media. Instagram is the most frequent, and even though it is almost exclusively from my preferred presidential choice, it’s more than enough, over the top, and beyond the pale.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not anti-politics or apolitical. I’ve taught in a field related to Political Science. I’ve walked precincts for local, state, and national candidates. The house I grew up in was a few doors from a large city high school that is used as a polling place. As a kid, I’d earn $5 for handing out leaflets backing a candidate. We just had to stand on the legal side of the polling perimeter signs.

Richard Ryan is at rryan@sdsu.edu.

But in recent years campaigns have started up way too early. The din of ads and analysis of polling has been constant. Inescapable. The proliferation of the 24 hour news cycle has me checking night and day for even the smallest changes in leads. Then I become saturated with MSNBC, FOX, and even PBS.​ I search for something calming, boring, noncompetitive like a show about a guy who makes art objects out of found bird feathers.

I long to be bored, to think I’m back when Dwight Eisenhower ran for president. He’d be interviewed on a golf course. He had been courted to run as a candidate by both the Democrats and Republicans so he wasn’t ideological or obsessed by power. The pace was slow. If elected, he wasn’t bent on persecuting his enemies. He was looking forward to playing more golf.

Nowadays, I fantasize opening my phone in the morning and reading in the New York Times that peace has broken out worldwide and that hunger has been conquered. I’d relax. I would say a quiet prayer of thanks.

I’d also want to read that the United States had finally gotten the gumption to elect a female president. Because it is about overcoming imprinted fears and largely juvenile stereotypes.

It used to be better at the local level. Local politics had been more transparent and very much local. You knew many of the candidates personally or had a friend who filled you in. She was honest. He helped my family once. That other guy was a crook.

Money changes a lot. In addition to the ubiquitous yard signs (I love them}, there are things money can buy. Money allows candidates to do some TV and to send out mailers. We received a mailer last week from Jason Jackson. It trashed other El Centro City Council Candidates. One side of the flyer praised Jackson. The other side condemned council candidates: Luis Minor, Sylvia Marroquin, Antowain Rackley, and Claudia Camarena. Each of their faces was stamped with an epithet: FRAUD, UNFIT, GUILTY, DISHONEST. It’s a time honored political strategy. If you sling enough dirt, some of it will stick.

I can’t verify or disprove the accusations against these candidates, but I am certain in my rejection of Jackson’s claim of being the city council’s redeemer. And it is apparent that the condemnations aimed at his opponents are suspect at best. Tarring a candidate with their partner’s trespasses, even if true, is judging one guilty by association. It’s a wild pitch. And why should we trust Jackson to be the judge of his opponents in any case?

So what is the solution? Attend candidate forums. Read and view local news sources for candidates’ information for all local races. Try to find the most objective news sources. And get a friend, family member, or neighbor to vote. As voters, we are only as good as we are informed and as effective to the extent that we participate.