Under everyone's noses, a fellow named Alvin Greene snagged the win at the Democratic Primary for a Senate seat for South Carolina.
He was not only unknown, but has absolutely no political back ground whatsoever.
At first, I was really excited about the idea of a "no-namer" coming out of nowhere and wining a primary. He spent NO money on campaigning. Not one commercial. Not one ad. He only did the bare minimum and got his name on the ballot and then went door to door.
Awesomeness!
But then I learned that after he paid his $10,400 fee to run for the Senate, he never attended one meeting of the Democratic party for his state. (I didn't know you had to pay a fee to run for the Senate. This in and of itself is an outrage to me. Yet, everyone else around me shrugs their shoulders at the fee).
Not only did this guy not show up for any functions with the leaders of the Democratic party in his state, he ran for office knowing that he has Federal charges hanging over his head. If he were elected, he could possibly be carted off to Federal prison right after he finishes taking his oath of office.
He was honorably discharged from the military and earned a few medals for his service. That's good to know at least.
Currently, he is unemployed-- which really isn't a shocker in this economy. But, you'd think someone running for the Senate would be employed-- especially if there's a $10,400 fee just to run!
I mean, shit, man . . . $10,400 just to run!
But on the other hand, you gotta admire his resourcefulness.
Now that he's won the primary, the Democratic headquarters in South Carolina wants him to withdraw from the race as they threaten a Federal investigation concerning his payment of the Senate race fees. He used a personal check rather than an account fund according to Democratic headquarters in South Carolina. The Democratic party claims that this is not acceptable and that this action voids his candidacy from the start.
Some members of the Democratic party even claim that the Republicans planted Greene so they could get an easy win for that Senate seat.
You know what I say . . . .
Too much sleep walking going on.
The Dems should have cared enough about that seat to encourage a sound candidate to run if they didn't like Greene. They should have at least noticed that Greene could use some grooming before being taken seriously as an honest contender against an opponent with four million dollars of campaign cash on hand. Remember, Greene is running his campaign off of unemployment benefits. This is noble, but this is daunting against an established incumbent with deep pockets.
Perhaps the people were sleepwalking when they voted. Did they simply click on the first name they saw? Did he reach across the state so much that he picked up the majority vote in the primaries?
I realize that when you point one finger at someone else, three point back at yourself. I am guilty of this sleepwalking, too. And this whole episode inspires me to try and wake up and not just blindly punch names just because I don't know anyone on the ballot. No longer will I simply default to my party of choice just because I need to select a name. Voting isn't eeny-meeny-miney-mo.
And there is also the possibility of electronic voter fraud. Maybe someone hacked into the machines and altered the votes. Hacking voter machines isn't so far fetched these days. Someone might have been sleep walking in the security department as well.
But worse, it is very clear that only the wealthy can run for office. This is dangerous that only a certain class of people can expect to ever be successful in politics. This is the most frighting notion of all, in my view.
Or maybe Greene will prove that notion wrong.
Either way, we need to wake up and smell the coffee. We need to stop sleepwalking.
In case your interested, here's an embedded YouTube video of a recent media interview with Alvin Greene:
