On the national level, there is really no good reason to follow the Nebraska gubernatorial race.

It is obvious to all, Republican and Democrat alike, that Governor Dave Heineman will win by a wide margin. However, we here at ten-amendments have an invested interest in the race, since the majority, or at least the plurality, of the staff hail from Nebraska. After the primary elections, the Democratic candidate for government dropped out under investigations of campaign funding fraud. For a bit it looked as if the Governor would run unopposed, as very few serious Democrats were willing to commit political suicide by running against Heineman and losing. In the midst of this search, a Nebraska Democratic Party official gave a remarkable quote to the Omaha World Herald, Governor Heineman is yet another white male career politician in Nebraska. Surely there is a woman or a minority out there who can offer us a different perspective. When President Obama was selecting nominations for the Supreme Court (which eventually became Justice Sotamayor), analysts were going crazy over the balance of the court and how the President would preserve it. Would the new justice be a male or a female? White, black, or brown? Protestant or Catholic? Or (horror of horrors) an atheist? Sean Hannity brought up a good point during this process: What about his or her views on little things like the Constitution? What are his/her qualifications? What about voting record? For weeks his message was the same: Who cares about skin color, life story, race, or creed? Not me! I care about her views on the founding documents of this country! America in recent years has become obsessed about demographics, dividing everything by superficial demographics that cause more problems than they solve. Everyone wants a representative in office that empathizes with their background, that can help solve their problems. But America has forgotten the most important quality for being a leadership being a man (or woman) of conviction, service, and upstanding character. In Rediscovering the Founding Father George Washington, Richard Brookhiser says that, among the cries for a great empathizing leader the United States has forgotten what a great statesman is like. We have forgotten it is possible to have a great man (or woman) as a leader. Instead we clamor for someone who can give us a fresh perspective. George Washington was not elected because of his fresh perspective. He was elected because his peers believed he was the best leader possible. The United States has no future if the first qualification we look to is skin color, empathy, and fresh perspective. We must once again demand that the men and women who represent us are qualified to follow the directives of the great men who came before them.