Iowa Bus Passengers Left In The Dark

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Presidential candidates don’t campaign on buses, and they will not break tradition and do it in Iowa. Why? Because, voters on the bus don't matter.

We are using it as a generic term for all public transport: passengers on the A Train in New York, Paris Metro, taxicabs in southern Africa that carry 12 passengers instead of the legal 9, streetcars in Toronto or red Double Decker buses the British introduced all over the Empire.

Voters on the bus don’t matter. That is why political parties can parachute a candidate into a constituency, voting district or a state. A candidate doesn’t have to live in, let’s say Berea. He could be from Salmonella, but the party thinks he will win big in Berea because of his race, economic status or popularity in sports. It’s one of the reasons why some people don’t believe in voting. What will of the people? It’s more the will of big wigs in the party.

Voters on the bus don’t matter because of expediency candidates parachuted into a voting area. It happened in Georgia, a U.S. state in 2021, during the Senate Run-Off Election. The Democratic Party fielded Reverend Ralph Warnock and Republicans put on the ballot, Herschel Walker, a former NFL player who lived in Texas. How can that happen? He doesn’t know anything about Georgia. You are using layman’s logic. The political system is about numbers. That’s why it allows expediency candidates.

Voters on the bus don't matter to politicians, but they do vote. That’s why there is shock when states ‘flip’ from red to blue, or blue to red. It’s voters on the bus who are not active online, do not attend Trump or Biden rallies, but know when to ring the bell to get off.

Nonqaba waka Msimang

Executive Blogger

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