For political junkies, Tuesday was the deadline for candidates to file for Michigan’s 15 congressional seats, the state House and Senate, plus many local races.
The filings set the field of candidates who will fight in the Aug. 3 Republican and Democratic primaries. The winners then will do battle in November.
Politics often is described as a bloodsport; in light of that, let’s lay down a few rules of engage-
ment that we hope candidates will follow:
1. Disagree, but be civil. Opponents do not have to be enemies.
2. Tell the truth. It’s easy to stretch the facts, or ignore them, but that doesn’t mean it’s right. It should be up to the media and voters to call candidates on falsehoods.
3. Share your ideas first, then criticisms of your opponent.
4. Stand up to your political parties. The Michigan Democratic and Republican parties like to play rough, delivering attacks that campaigns themselves don’t want to offer. For once, we’d like to see a candidate disavow his or her state party, when warranted.
5. Relax. It’s not the end of the world. Elections matter, but democracy, liberty, our state and country will survive no matter who wins.
Good luck to all candidates. Remember, fight fair!
— THE JACKSON CITIZEN PATRIOT