Walt Whitman said that our "powerfulest scene and show is America's choosing day," the "swordless conflict." One views our full body-slam political contests and wonders if it is truly "swordless" but prior elections were real conflict, sometimes physical.

Andrew Jackson unseated incumbent John Quincy Adams in the 1828 presidential election. The campaign makes today's mudslinging and character assassinations seem gentile.

Adams was called a pimp and Jackson a serial adulterer, serious accusations in that day. Jackson defended the honor of himself and his wife, Rachael, in the manner of Southern gentlemen: duel challenges flew like chickens scattering before the rampaging old general.

Jackson set the bar for candidate rage very high. Old Hickory's flailing cane nearly denied Whitman's "swordless" description.

The unique political system that our founders devised retains its uniqueness today. We elect our legislators and executive officers separately, and the Constitution keeps them separate and sort of equal, unlike the parliamentary system widely used elsewhere.

Inattentive citizens fail to recognize the difference and give the executive branch more credit for good and blame for bad than is often deserved.

All laws and spending start in Congress with the origination of spending restricted to the House of Representatives. The founders thought that the "people's house" would restrain spending and the more regal Senate would simmer wild ideas.

Those ideas seem quaint today. Much of our attention is focused on presidential contests, but the congressional and local races are just as important, in some cases more so.

This time around we do not have any local races, other than state representatives and senators, but that does not mean that we cannot send a clear message to aldermen, selectmen, school boards and council members.

Government frugality is more important than ever in these difficult economic times. Tossing out the spendthrift rascals can do wonders when local budgeting time arrives.

We can also impose accountability. Americans are rightly angry at the financial system fiasco, which has its roots in elected officials who deny any fault. New Hampshire voters cannot hold Democratic Rep. Barney Frank, of Massachusetts, and Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd, of Connecticut, directly accountable for steering Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into the gutter, but we can deny them the support of our representatives.

We can replace our Democratic enabler House members and retain U.S. Sen. John E. Sununu, who has a long and noble record of raising the warning flags loudly and openly.

Congressman Paul Hodes did nothing to ward off this disaster despite Senator Sununu's wise appeal for reform before the train wreck.

We can send Jennifer Horn – a common sense, real person – to Washington to bring some measure of reality to that crazy land of influence peddling, nest feathering and partisan politics.

If we do that we will have the attention of all local officials. They will recognize the power of an angry electorate and reassess their actions out of fear of retribution at the polls. "America's choosing day" can lop heads despite its "swordless" nature.

People make their choices by several means. Some vote strictly along party lines, no matter what. These would elect a serial rapist if he is a member of the correct party.

Those are lazy voters, in my view; they do not take the time to understand their choice and simply rely on family tradition to assuage their conscience. There is always a handy bumper sticker slogan that seems to provide some logic to their shallow choice.

Too many voters using the party method can produce a weak, one-party political culture. We need only to peer across our southern border to see it.

Massachusetts has rampant corruption among insular elected officials who sneer at the people while they feather themselves comfy, lifelong nests. That will not change until there is a vibrant two party-system there, as in the rest of the nation.

New Hampshire has not gone that way. We enjoy a vibrant, spirited political culture because enough voters study the issues to make their choices. High rhetoric is not enough for us; show us the "beef."

Enough New Hampshire voters do the work of comparing their beliefs to the candidates' records. Some candidates try to thwart voter understanding of their core beliefs.

Turn away when your phony-politician-detector quivers. Get skeptical when the candidates' rhetoric is not matched by his record. Run the same reality check on his opponent and then decide. The media should help with this effort. The Telegraph does a good job of it, but other media do not. Their job is to sort through all of the rhetoric and ferret out the character and record of each candidate.

Unfortunately, the national media has become part of the one-party culture problem. Sen. Barack Obama remains an enigma because the media has failed to do their job over two years of campaigning.

They have traded professional ethics for advancement of their nearly universal agenda. This should not have happened, but it did.

Again, the electorate can educate the wrongdoers by rejecting their proposition that aggressive investigation of rhetoric versus facts is not needed. Vote the issues and all will be fine. America's choosing day is upon us – let us choose.

John Bachman is an Amherst businessman and freelance columnist. His column appears on the first Sunday of the month. E-mail him at john@anatek.mv.com.