On November 1, Israel will hold its fifth parliamentary election in three years. As usual, the right-wing voters will vote for the right-wing parties and the center-Left voters will vote "strategically," because they are brilliant political strategists, which is why they have won every election until now… oh, wait.
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Leftists love to say that their politicians are not enough. Not hawkish enough, not dovish enough, not feminist enough, not realistic enough, not socialist enough, you get the gist.
They are still waiting for the general who will come – they think – with a knife between his teeth and speak with terrible diction and use unrelated metaphors and will in no way be prepared for the real world, a strange world where people don't always do what they are told. He will say that he is against collective punishment and that he is a leftist. He will say that deterrence should be restored and that he is the center.
Political commentators will say that he does not want to steal votes from other factions, which is why his true positions will be revealed after the elections, and indeed after the elections his true positions will be revealed and we'll learn that he has none.
Why don't right-wingers vote strategically? Perhaps because they have been complaining for so long? Maybe because they don't think that they are smarter than their leaders? Or perhaps the fault lies elsewhere (Ehud Barak, the Haredim, the media) and we can understand that if leaders are elected based on their promises, then maybe, just maybe, they will feel obligated to implement them.
On the other hand, if we continue to vote "strategically," there will be no one to realize any vision. If we don't believe in any leader, there won't be a leader to believe in anything.
As for the yes-Netanyahu-no-Netanyahu debate, we seem to have forgotten that there are 120 lawmakers in the Knesset. These are 120 men and women who are supposed to devote (and some really do) all their time to improving our lives.
When we vote for a party based solely on who heads it, we vote for another three to 34 Knesset members who will represent us in committees, plenums, and ministries and get to decide our future. Supporting or opposing Netanyahu alone is not a political opinion.
I would like to propose a revolutionary concept for the upcoming elections: vote for whoever you agree with. Whether you vote for the Right or the Left, for the center or for Avigdor Lieberman, this time let's give our voice to the leaders who at least look like they are looking for solutions. As Menachem Begin said, sometimes the obvious must also be said: let's stop voting for leaders who offer nothing.
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