“Pennsylvania Primary Voters Vividly Show Senator Specter, Selfishness Succumbs Service!” By Ramesh C. Reddy

“Pennsylvania Primary Voters Vividly Show Senator Specter, Selfishness Succumbs Service!”

When U.S. Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania switched parties from being a Republican to a Democrat, his reasoning was not based on party ideology but soul searching selfishness. Specter knew he would not have a chance of winning against conservative challenger Pat Toomey in the Pennsylvania Republican primary so he made a calculated decision of switching parties to give him a better chance of retaining his senate seat.

On April 28, 09, before switching parties Specter said, "I am unwilling to have my 29-year Senate record judged by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate….My change in party will enable me to be re-elected"

The only problem is that Specter did not anticipate a battle between service v.s. selfishness nor from U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, a young Democratic challenger who defeated him yesterday in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary.

Sadly, Specter was leaning on to his own understanding thinking to himself and making himself believe that if he were a Democrat, he could be elected easily in Pennsylvania without realizing that as corrupt as politics is that loyalty matters to the voters.

If Specter was willing to switch parties to further his own agenda of winning a senate seat, what else was he willing to compromise on?

His 30-year service in the Senate was overshadowed by his selfish act of switching parties.

A person who stands on his/her convictions and ideology should not base decisions on what other people might think or do to him/her but stand on principles. It is hard to believe that Specter was running on his principles but more on his selfishness.

Now it makes me wonder whether what Specter did as a Republican really reflected who he was or whether he was doing it for political clout because once he realized he was vulnerable as a Republican he conveniently switched parties not taking into account the voters who had voted for him instead of for Tommey in the last primary.

Changing parties based on differences in ideological beliefs can happen but the bases should be on issues rather than what will give a person the best chance of getting elected.

Specter’s reasoning gun misfired against former naval officer and U.S. Stesak yesterday. Now Stesak will get to challenge Toomey for the senate seat and not Specter.

As an independent voter whose views on issues are biblically motivated instead of on a conservative or a liberal ideology and who tends to lean more Republican than Democrat, it is important for me to care more about a person’s character than the years of service a candidate has given because a person’s strong character will show loyalty and tenacity to stick to principles despite the potential danger in politics. Specter did not have that!

Service without character can fail because character defines a person and good character can enhance a person’s service instead of degrading it. Specter’s character was attacked to show the voters of Pennsylvania that he is someone not to be trusted with a leadership role for now. This however does not make Stesak, someone with good character because what he did was repugnant and reprehensible portraying Specter as a weak and feeble candidate based on his chemotherapy.

However, for many voters Specter’s switch in parties based on his reasoning resonated more negatively than Stesak’s ad.

If you are betting your leadership stability or ability based on the years of service and training you have had, you need only to look to Specter and myself to see that character trumps over leadership and service.

In an area of my life the issues with my character were also a result of my downfall regardless of the years of service I had put in or the wonderful training I had. Once that happened, it was an uphill battle but God’s grace is still shown in my life as I have reflected on my own shortcomings.

As Specter reflects on his own shortcomings, it should be a time of joy instead of a time of loss because God’s grace is available even for Specter regardless of how he is feeling at this moment.

It is my hope that people continue to realize that leadership and service are for naught without good character and that good character can only be portrayed by depending on the One who has the perfect character: The Lord Almighty.

"It's not that simple. Specter's power base was always in the Philadelphia suburbs, which were full of "Rockefeller Republicans" that were considerably more ideologically liberal than the hard-right conservatives that run the GOP today; for that reason it had the reputation of being a true "swing" region and made the difference in numerous statewide elections. However, since Bill Clinton became president that area began trending Democratic, so he followed his voters into the Democratic Party."
Rick Nowlin