As the election draws near, I think I have finally found the solution to decide which candidate to vote for, a sort of exam to test their qualifications for president. The test is simply that candidates should be forced to ride the bus. Not to give speeches or because they care about global warming, but to meet the people they hope to represent. Not the halls filled with the NAACP, the steel workers union, the NRA or any other special interest; they should take the average, working-class American's transportation. To be picky, I think they should ride my bus.
Imagine George Bush or John Kerry catching a bus on Madison's South Side after standing out in the rain, snow or blistering heat. No secret service or press should come on these bus rides. The candidates should have to remember how it is to not have an entourage. They should have to stand up for 20 minutes on a bus ride while being packed like sardines, pushed against the person next to them. They should be made to spend the morning sitting across from students heading to school, listening to how they view the world. How would Bush react to a 14-year-old girl talking about her first pregnancy, or a young man discussing how he spent the past few weeks in lockup for beating another student into unconsciousness? How would either candidate react to a black student who believes that Harriet Tubman was a part of the fight for civil rights, and fought to sit in the back of the bus?
How would they react to the more interesting Madison bus riders, the fellows who talk to themselves or who twitch uncontrollably, or the late night bus riders who are drunk enough to be both dangerous and extremely happy at the same time? Most telling might be how they feel about riding each day past the local jail. How would they feel riding with men wearing an ankle-tracking bracelet, out for the day on work release?
If you finally let the politicians talk, instead of listen, would it make one iota of difference to those on my bus? Words and political promises are of little help to the young Hispanic woman working two jobs and raising a family all alone, riding the bus home in the dark for a few hours sleep. Yet I can't help but hope that if the politicians met my people, the ones who ride the bus, it might provide a bit of clarity. The presidential election, after all, is about the people, and electing an individual who can represent them both individually and as a whole. CNN, CSPAN, special interests and even the politicians seem to forget that on a regular basis, to the detriment of bus riders everywhere.
Harlen L. Johnston is a third-year law student.
