Don't let politicians make all the choices

If you're surprised by an election, goes an adage I just made up, you deserve what you get.

There are no surprise elections. They appear on the calendar months before anyone needs to register, let alone educate themselves. Ordinarily, candidates will call and write and shake your hand for weeks before Election Day.

But not this year. Surprise at the coming election is entirely understandable. Because, with a few exceptions, there are no elections this Election Day.

Most candidates in Hampton Roads are running with not a hint of opposition. Among his local Republican colleagues in the General Assembly, only Del. Ron Villanueva has attracted an opponent. Among Democrats, only Del. Billy K. Barlow and Sens. Ralph Northam, Mamie Locke and John Miller have drawn opposition.

There are many more races in the Senate (six) and House (13) that are completely uncontested in Hampton Roads. The only choice most voters have is whether to show up to check a name on the ballot.

(Thankfully, the partisans in Richmond haven't figured out how to destroy democracy on the municipal level: There are multiple candidates in city council races in Portsmouth and Virginia Beach.)

Others and my betters have deplored the fact that there's little democracy left in our republican democracy. The real election for the General Assembly happened in the spring, when state party leaders redrew House and Senate district boundaries. To say they protected incumbents is to underestimate the quality of their work: They re-elected them.

Here's how: Democrats in the Senate and Republicans in the House divvied us up according to voting patterns and demographics. To the extent possible, partisans tried to minimize the influence of people prone to vote for the other party.

So, in the Senate plan, districts are designed either to segregate Republicans or to dilute their voice by making them such a small minority that they can't elect anyone. In the House, the same was done to Democrats.

In both cases, the result - aside from ensuring safe seats - is to tip the scales to the most extreme voices in both parties, since there's no penalty for immoderation.

While the politicians were doing this, we stood by and watched.

Which was weird. Usually, when politicians make such horrible decisions, when they usurp the will of the people, when they overreach, Americans resist. Sometimes, they even take to the streets.

Since Virginians acquiesced in silence, one conclusion is that we're happy with Richmond's every decision. Tolls at the Midtown and Downtown tunnels? Higher prices at state universities? Oil wells off Sandbridge? Uranium mines upstream?

Whatever you think of those specifics, my point is that we don't all agree. And it doesn't matter. The choices have already been made.

I intended to write today about the fact that this weekend the editorial page will begin publishing our candidate endorsements. It's the culmination of weeks of interviews, research and phone calls. But as I wrote these lines, I got more and more frustrated. In far too many cases, the fix is already in.

It isn't entirely, though. Not yet.

Democracy will always win out, no matter how much effort politicians put into killing it. And so there are real choices facing voters in five House and Senate districts. And for two city councils.

As I've written before, our choices are informed by values that call for "good roads, effective schools, safe streets, a clean environment, an adequate social safety net. Taxes should be only high enough for government to do what only it can do: building roads, for example.

"From politicians, we like integrity, both in governance and promises. We want leaders, not followers. We prefer problem-solvers to flame-throwers. We want government to be small both in its spending and in its intrusion. We favor folks who get stuff done. We like smart people."

Regardless of what we think, these choices properly belong to voters, to you, not to the politicians.

Whatever decision you make and whether you agree with our reasoning or not, I urge you to cast a ballot Nov. 8. Vote for the candidate who deserves it. If nobody does, write in "A. Choice" or "Nonpartisan Redistricting."

But send a message to politicians who think they've already decided this election. Our votes count. Even when politicians do everything to stop it.

Donald Luzzatto is The Pilot's editorial page editor. Email: donald.luzzatto@pilotonline.com.