Before casting your vote …

In about fourth grade, adolescent boys (at least I think it’s just the boys) start taunting each other with the game “Would you rather do ______ or kiss your mother on the lips?” For those who don’t remember this, or a similar game, the blank is an ever-worsening list of disgusting things for which the target will be teased, until he breaks and is willing to kiss his mother; a cardinal sin for boys this age.

Fortunately, this game usually goes away in a few years. Unless, that is, you become part of a legislative body. You may not recognize it, because the players wear suits and the options are votes, but legislative maneuvering is a game of Hobson’s choices designed to ensure certain members can be politically brutalized for any option, particularly when gridlock prevents anything real from getting done.

Consider a recent vote to take money from publicly funded elections and use it to fund research on cancers that effect children. A liberal or moderate congressmember who votes yes will be targeted for allowing elections to be run by special interests. If he or she votes no, they don’t want to help sick kids. Most are probably longing for an out as simple as kissing their mother.

It’s not the same for both sides, because conservatives are typically fine with cutting public financing. Nor is it simply one of the hard choices legislators have to make, because there is no real attempt to find something liberals would trade for more cancer funding. Everyone knows the legislation is dead on arrival in the Senate, so it just becomes a way to set the agenda to make the opposition look bad.

Designing such a choice may be the most blatant way of creating a no-win scenario, but not the only one. Another method is to take a large important bill and add controversial and unrelated legislation. The recent favorite is the Defense Appropriations Bill, which allows congressmembers to either vote for something they may not want or vote “against the troops.” Lest you think only one side uses such maneuvers, both Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was passed as part of the Defense Appropriations.

If the recent coverage of the mayoral special election and candidates is any indication, we are in for a lengthy discussion of votes and real or alleged flip-flops and bipartisanship. That’s a good thing, as long as it’s done right. For candidates who have held office, few things say more than their voting records. Knowing what that record says, however, requires knowing not just the vote, but the situation and other options.

Before casting your vote, find out not just how, but why, the candidates voted on the issues that matter to you.