ELAINE HARRIS SPEARMAN COMMENTARY: Voting public between a rock and a hard place

“You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, well, you just might find you get what you need.”

You might have to read those lines more than once to get the impact of what Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones were singing about. Mick and Keith Richards wrote that song during political times, in America and abroad.

Then there was Socrates: “If you don’t get what you want you suffer. If you get what you don’t want, you still suffer, even when you get exactly what you want you still suffer, because you can’t hold onto it for forever.”

Who would have thought that words written that long ago would still resonate? They and the song reflect the untenable position in which voters find themselves in all of the upcoming elections. There is no possible way most voters will get what they want on the local, state or national levels.

We can try, and maybe we will get some of what we need. With what we see as candidates, however, the voting public is between a rock and a hard place in most of the elections.

Just for starters, looking at the U.S. Senate race candidates could make you cry if you have any tears left. In Alabama, voters are faced with a House incumbent who is being sued for delivering an incendiary speech prior to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. As the investigation ensues, it is revealing his early involvement in planning to halt a peaceful transfer of power.

When we thought no candidate could be worse, along comes Mike Durant. He’s a former U.S. Army aviator who was prominent in the book and film “Black Hawk Down,” after his Black Hawk helicopter was shot down in Somalia in 1993, and he was held captive for more than a week.

However, military service does not in and of itself qualify someone for public office. Many people who throw their hats in the political ring seem to have no idea that being “good” at one thing does not mean that you are good at everything.

Durant, a native of New Hampshire who moved to Alabama, has made his living off public contracts, although he recently turned his company, Pinnacle Solutions, over to his employees through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. That company provides “products and services” to NASA and claims the Department of Defense as an “industry partner.”

In the midst of taxpayers paying for these services and products, he is campaigning against mandatory vaccinations for federal contractors and the military. He states squarely in your face that he is going to get rid of “those government insiders.”

Somebody wake him, shake him; He is the definition of an insider. The company he founded makes its living off the government. That is us, the taxpayers. As people are dying in droves from COVID-19, we the people have a right to demand that those making a living off the government get vaccinated.

No one is entitled to government work. It is a privilege. Just like Brooks, Durant is trying to appeal to the worst in people by putting the disgraced and impeached former president front and center, and using him as a calling card. Alabama doesn’t need to send another biased person to Congress.

Turning our eyes to our neighboring state of Georgia, it is a pitiful sight to behold. Stacy Abrams has done a masterful job of turning the eyes of the world on that state and its officials.

Stage left, enter Herschel Walker, a former football player, stumping for the U.S. Senate. He has been selected by the former president and others, and tagged as the “Republican darling.” He recently posted a completely incoherent video opposing President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better proposal.

My God, is this the best that the GOP can do to display its appeal to African Americans?

Be assured, African Americans do not clamor for this former athlete — who admittedly has managed to overcome personal demons, acknowledging his struggles with mental illness and claiming to have been “held accountable” following accusations of threatening behavior against his former wife — as one of their leaders on the national stage.

As all of these candidates step up their respective games, the voting public needs to do likewise. The FCC has a role to play as the airwaves become bombarded with political ads. It administers program rules for political ads for radio, television, cable TV and direct broadcast satellite. Issue ads are included. Among the requirements is sponsorship identification.

Some media outlets believe any and everything can be done because they are paid. Not so. Voters need to be aware and not just accept anything because it was on the radio or on television. Email campaignlaw@fcc.gov or call 202-418-1440 if you are concerned that procedures aren’t being followed.

Elaine Harris Spearman, Esq., a Gadsden native, is the retired legal advisor to the comptroller of the City of St. Louis. The opinions reflected are her own.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Elaine Harris Spearman looks at the electoral landscape