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I received more campaign garbage in the mail on Saturday, including one flyer that really rubbed me the wrong way.
It was dubbed something like a “complete voting guide” for one of the parties - listing the party’s presidential candidate and all of the local, state, etc. folks running. That was their “complete guide” - a list of names, with the party name emphasized below each one, and the office they’re running for. No mention of the issues.
What really got me is that the list was done in vote ballot format, showing voters that they could either manually fill in their little circles for each one, or that they could just fill in their little party bubble and vote party lines.
That’s always disgusted me. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think anyone should be allowed to place all votes across party lines by simply filling in a little circle (or whatever you do where you are). While I’m sure this is an unpopular opinion, I feel that if you don’t know the issues, you really have no “right” to vote in that particular race. Anything else is ignorance - something we have far too much of here already. I’m sure it happens elsewhere, but obviously it’s on my mind locally with the election tomorrow.
I never vote in a race where I’m not aware of the candidates’ positions on issues that are important to me. I also never vote strictly along party lines - I very regularly end up with a pretty even mix of votes for liberal and conservative candidates depending who I feel is the best man or woman for the job, period. There’s no other valid reason to vote for someone as far as I’m concerned. And frankly, as an American, knowing exactly what we’re voting for is more than a simple suggestion - it’s our responsibility.
So if you’re an American who plans to vote tomorrow, I truly hope that you’re more than just a label.
2 Responses
Kathleen H. Ackroyd
04|Nov|2008You should have typed this in all caps. LOL
But seriously, this should be shouted from the rooftops.
An uninformed voter is a very dangerous voter!
Jenn
04|Nov|2008Hey, I’m just glad to hear there’s another sane person out there. lol Dare to say anyone shouldn’t vote around here, and heads might fly. I think we’d have a problem anyway though - far too many people think they understand all, or most, of the issues without really knowing a damned thing. I have one friend in particular who’s gotten to me quite a bit lately - I won’t give details other than to say they’re in a position where they should understand elections far better than an average American. Yet they’ve bought into multiple YouTube clips, soundbytes, and flat-out lies, and worse - they spread them around. My “favorite” was them saying an issue had never been adequately answered by the other party, when in fact it was answered quite extensively during the primary process - of course since they’re a member of the opposing party, they didn’t seem to “keep up” on that then, and their candidates played on the ignorance.
Both sides have done it to a degree during the election, but frankly (and I know I probably shouldn’t say who I’m voting for here, but…) I think the McCain / Palin beast has been particularly disgusting about spreading BS this time around (and it’s not like I’m some big Obama supporter or anything - four years ago, I would have voted for McCain in a heartbeat - if anything, I feel kind of betrayed by him these days).
Ugh… there’s a reason I don’t talk about politics often - gets me a bit too riled up (and I’m not even going into depth here). lol
No matter what way you’re going, if you’re feeling sure about the issues that matter to you, then happy voting tomorrow.
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