In response to your opinion piece that elections should be about the issues, I couldn’t agree more. And your analogy comparing elections to the Coke/Pepsi Challenge is closer to reality than you probably realize.

Yes, those challenges showed Pepsi as the choice — of course, they are not going to show the people who chose Coke. But, there were many reports that the challenge was rigged. In many instances, the Coke was allowed to get partially “flat,” while the Pepsi was always fresh.

For decades, the political arena has been rigged to lean to the democratic side, and in many cases, the Republicans have been complicit. And for a long time, Republican voters have been forced to choose “the lesser of two evils” after they let the democratic-leaning media choose their candidate for them — ala John McCain and Mitt Romney (the two most recent). The only difference this time is that the Republicans get to choose “the lesser evil” of their own choosing rather than the one the Democrats wanted them to have — Jeb Bush.

If this election was truly about the issues that are important to betterment of our country, it would have been a foregone conclusion long before now. But, an election based on issues is just a pipe dream in the foreseeable future without another American Revolution where the people stand up against their leaders and say, “Enough!”

And to those who say, “Both are deplorable (no argument from me there). I am just not going to vote,” I remind them that you can vote for the “lesser” of two evils, or your non-vote becomes a vote for the “greater” of two evils.

Spruce Derden
Natchez resident