Voting Time

Tomorrow is voting day in the US.  Not to sound preachy, but:  Have you researched your issues and candidates?  This being an off year, most of the voting items are local only.  This is where your one vote can make a huge difference.  While you still have a day to study the question, do so.

Vote only on those issues you have researched.  If you have not looked into an issue, how do you know you are voting for what you want.  Politicians sometimes word the issues confusingly to get people to vote how they (the politicians) want not how the people want.  It’s cases like this where ‘no’ really means ‘yes’ and vice versa.  (Insert your own bawdy comment here.)

Don’t “not vote” because you think your vote doesn’t count.  If we did that, then only one side of the matter would be heard.  Years of that will lead to discontent and the discontent will lead to rebellion.  Isn’t that why we revolted against English rule in the first place?  Because old King George wouldn’t listen to us and treat us like the good upstanding citizens we thought we were?

Don’t skip voting because you think everyone agrees with you and they don’t need you to show up.  Your judgment of everyone else’s opinions might be wrong.  Or, almost everyone else might feel the same as you do…  “My candidate is a shoe-in and doesn’t need my support at the polls.”  Then the opposition comes in and takes over.  Now, the opposition has the office for a couple of years, and the incumbency, which makes it easier to get elected the next time.  Is that what you really want?

One more thing to think about before you go vote.  Are you voting for the lesser of the two evils or do you really want that person in office.  If you don’t like either of the main candidates, can you write a name in?  Or does your state have a ‘none of the above’ option on the ballot.

Keep all of this in mind and GO VOTE.  (But only on the things you’ve researched.)