PEA RIDGE — When the U. S. mail delivers this newspaper on April 7, 2010, the Arkansas primary election date will be less than six weeks away. That date (May 18) is rapidly approaching and has produced home telephone calls and e-mails to potential voters such as our house. For those wanting to cast a meaningful vote, the choices are plentiful for the Republican Party voters. It appears the choices for the Democratic voters will be much easier since the U.S.

Senate seat is the only federal legislative position being contested. There will be state constitutional offices on which to vote but no Benton County positions. In addition, there will be the non-partisan judicial choices which will be on both parties’ ballots.

For those voting in the Republican Primary in the area generally served by this weekly newspaper, the choices are almost overwhelming. Where the Democrats will choose from three candidates to represent their party in the fall General Election - and one is the incumbent - the Republicans will select their senatechoice from seven candidates. In addition to the senate position, the Republican choices for the congressional seat being vacated by Congressman Boozman total eight candidates. At the county level there are four persons seeking the county judge position and two running for sheriff.

Justice of the Peace districts 2 and 7 have two candidates each and constable positions in those two districts are also being contested.

And, the Republican ballot will also include the non-partisan choices. As great as it is to have this many candidates, as voters we have a great deal of responsibility to research the qualifications of the choices for each race. If people are willing to spend the time and money required to be a “serious” candidate, we need to consider their qualifications and their purpose inrunning. You can determine the “serious” candidate by their campaign’s efforts but you must look past the unrealistic promises. If someone is challenging an incumbent, we need to know why they are doing so and if there is no incumbent, we have to dig even deeper to select from a list of unproved promises.

An incumbent has generally provided us with a history which we support and vote to continue or has proven we don’t want them back in the same office.

For me, officials like Keith Ferguson have proven their ability and I will support Keith for sheriff once again.

A county judge who has created as much controversy as Dave Bisbee, however, indicates to me that someone proven in county government such as Bob Stephenson can guide the county better than the incumbent.

These are choices we must make. For me to replace a county judge with an inexperienced person doesn’t make sense, but if I can help elect a 10-year veteran of the Quorum Court it is worth myeffort. You may feel differently about the requirement of those two county offices, but my personal experience as a member of the Quorum Court, working with the two offices, has prompted me to make these personal choices because I believe the positions require responsible and experienced leaders.

There are many criteria we can apply to candidates for any position before we cast our ballot. We are fortunate in America to still evaluate the candidates by any measure we want, from the color of their eyes to their experience. If we choose we can apply their religious preference as a test, or their proximity to our home. What matters most, in my opinion however, is which individual will help the nation, state, county or other governed entity most.

To apply an arbitrary standard based on my personal gain at the expense of our country is extremely shortsighted. To elect a friend to an office (or to vote for them anyway) solely because they are a friend unless they are the best qualified is not goingto change the direction of the entity in which they govern.

If a candidate currently holds a political office and can run without risk of losing it, they are not giving up very much to improve their political status.

Although I feel Jim Holt is a better long-term choice for the Republican nominee for the U. S. Senate seat, Congressman Boozman is taking the greater risk of any of the candidates because in running for the Senate he will lose his “comfortable” House seat regardless of the outcome of the primary. You and I must decide for ourselves if we are willing to keep sending the same people back to Washington. Since they (the people we send to the House and Senate) won’t establish term limits for themselves, we must set our own “length of service” requirements. By my own standard a total of 12 years is the point I won’t vote to return them to Washington. That gives an individual two terms in the Senate or six terms in the House.

My criteria may not be acceptable or appropriate foryou, but my hope would be that we all start to look at the problems we have allowed to develop by our voting practices and consider some changes in what we support.

It is entirely possible that we, as a nation, are at a point of change our voting habits or forever doom our future generations to political slavery.

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Leo Lynch, a native of Benton County has deep roots in northwest Arkansas. He is a retired industrial engineer and former Justice of the Peace. He can be contacted at prtnews@ nwanews.com.

Opinion, Pages 4 on 04/07/2010