Secret Ballots

I love The West Wing. It’s easily my favorite television show of all time. This time of year, one episode always sticks out in my mind. They were trying to get a new Vice President confirmed, and were heading into the Senate vote. By their count, they had 99 “yea” and 1 “nay” vote. The Deputy Chief of Staff was pissed about the one nay. Why? Everyone was confused. 99-1 was a pretty resounding victory. But he was pissed because he knew the one nay would become the story. He hated the idea of all the news programs hunting down the one nay for an interview. The airwaves would be filled with nothing but this guy talking about whatever reason he used for not voting to confirm.

Which brings me to the three yahoos that didn’t vote for Ken Griffey Jr. 

People are calling for their heads. They wanted their names listed as soon as possible so they could bring their torches and pitchforks. There seemed to be one common theme. If all the ballots were made public, these stupid things wouldn’t happen. The voters would be held accountable.

I think it’s the opposite. 

I only know George King’s name for one reason. He’s the hypocrite who didn’t put Pedro Martinez on his MVP ballot in 1999.He made a name for himself, at least in my eyes, because he was the nay vote. 

So, I don’t want to know who the three morons are. I don’t want to know why they don’t take their votes seriously. I don’t want to know why they should have their voting privileges revoked. They should simply quietly be barred from voting ever again. Not even a press release. Why should they get any benefit from this? More important, why should we encourage this type of behavior? If people who make a really unpopular and moronic decision realize they're get lots of web hits...why should we encourage that? Why don't we make them just shut up and do their job? After all, the secret ballot has been around since the dawn of democracy. Maybe if the Hall of Fame did that, there wouldn't be so much grandstanding.

Stop making stupid people famous.