It’s over. Well, for Iowa, at least. No more candidate-bashing campaign commercials that forced me to turn away from the TV in utter disgust for the past several months. Lucky for me, I spent most of the break at my parents’ house in Illinois, which meant that I didn’t have to endure the final onslaught of campaign ads and the media frenzy that surrounded the first election of the primary season.

But before returning to Ames, I decided to fill out my absentee ballot so that I would not have to drive back in later when the Illinois primary would take place. Soon after shouting confidently across a room filled with liberal Champaign county government workers that I would be voting on the Republican ballot (I wanted to vote in both Democratic and Republican primaries, but apparently that’s not allowed), I took my place in the voting booth. Months of impatience and disgust that always coincide with election season were soon seeping through my pen into the bubbles that I carefully filled in so that there wouldn’t be any confusion.

After voting for a candidate and their respective delegates, I soon turned the ballot over to reveal three very peculiar resolutions. The disgust that had just been exonerated resurfaced in a different form. It seems that the county had decided to whip up a resolution calling for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq, alongside resolutions calling for something about human rights violations at “Gitmo” and a resolution that would essentially allow the county to use as much money as possible to help poor people.

How cute.

Now would I really be that out of line if I wondered what business a small county in Illinois really had in foreign affairs like these? While this resolution may only be a small cry to Congress and the president, these things cost money that could be put toward matters that local governments are actually intended for, such as education, infrastructure and even city homeless shelters and soup kitchens. But that will never happen. Renegade city councils like that one will always feel the need to stick their noses in larger, foreign affairs, no matter how much taxpayer money is expended or how utterly pointless it is to try and sway the federal government to end the war just because Anytown, U.S.A. said so.

But Champaign County is not alone. While this was just a simple city resolution, similar acts will be showing up on several state ballots come November, thanks in part to groups like www.ballotground.org, whose goal is to “bring our troops home – help put the war on the ballot.” Anyone with a solid head on their shoulders should be able to realize that there must be a different goal in mind, as turning “the 2008 election into a referendum on Iraq” – as they neatly put it – would technically not be worthwhile as state governments hold no sway in foreign policy. Luckily, www.ballotground.org has essentially stated its goal without actually saying it.

Using the same tactics Republicans did in 2004 when Karl Rove pushed for anti-gay marriage and abortion resolutions in several key swing states, groups like these wish to use the war as a tool of voter mobilization to elect a Democrat – or as they say, an “anti-war president” (I doubt they would go for Ron Paul) – into the White House. Of course, this means that Democrats are now guilty of using the same tactics as Republicans, even after condemning them for it – but it’s OK when Democrats do it.

Regardless of your view on American foreign policy, it is depressing to see taxpayer money being spent on silly resolutions that they know the president will not listen to, and Congress will probably choose to set aside for their own egos at most. Whether it is for their own personal satisfaction to pass an anti-war resolution, or an effort to mobilize voters, politicizing the war – especially on the state and local level – is counter-productive. Each facet of government – local, state and federal – has a role in running this country, and it’s time they remember what their place is.

– Andrew Gionnette is a senior in mechanical engineering from Chanhassen, Minn.