As I sit here, reading and contemplating, I keep thinking about all of the radio and television ads. All of the attacks on character and voting records. I keep thinking about all of the folks whose only campaign strategy is to make the other guy look bad. Unfortunately, the voters get so focused on whatever it is that is brought up on one candidate, that they fail to even evaluate the qualifications of the one who's slinging the mud. No one checks to see what they've done in their past; if they graduated college, or where. No one checks to see if their campaign platform lines up with their desires, values and principles. It's the art of misdirection…I have nothing good about me so I'll do all I can to deflect the attention away from my inadequacies and onto someone else. Sadly, we elect many of our elected officials in just this way. That's pretty bad, but it's not the worse thing about the political Olympics that take place every two years….there's more.
Every time I turn around I hear Tom Joyner, Roland Martin, Steve Harvey, and the list goes on making statements like, '…every African American listening to my voice needs to get out and vote…' or '…we need a high African American voter turnout…' among other borderline racist statements. How about, we need to get every informed voter out to vote on election day. As a matter of fact, if I need to coerce, cajole or convince you that you need to get out and vote, then you probably aren't an informed voter. Therefore you aren't anyone that really needs to be voting. You'll vote for people because they have a nice last name, because their name was first, or last. You're the voter who'll go in and commit what I call the cardinal sin. The one thing that I believe is worse than not voting at all. No, it's not voting uninformed (although that's bad, this is a tad bit worse), it is voting the straight ticket.
Let me elaborate, when you go into a voter's booth and vote the 'ticket' you're casting a vote for every republican or democrat on the ballot, regardless of whether their opponent is better for their respective office. You're casting a vote based on a twisted political party rather than on what each candidate can do for your community. You're crippling one system in order for another to prosper. Yes, Bill White may be a better choice than Rick Perry (not saying he is) for governor, but is Barbara Ann Radnofsky a better selection than Greg Abbott for attorney general? Or David Dewhurst may be a better selection than Linda Chavez-Thompson for Lt governor, but is Myra Crownover a better selection than Diane L. Chisholm for district 64? It is imperative that we evaluate each candidate and let them sit on their own merits. There's nothing wrong with voting for both democrats and republicans alike. It's what makes our country strong, and diverse. Especially in the case of judges. Their jobs can have the lives others hanging by a thread. Do you really want to elect an incompetent judge while you're playing party politics?
There are example after example of cases where someone didn't campaign, didn't do interviews, etc nothing at all and they were elected by a preponderance of the votes simply because further up the ballot, someone else was campaigning on behalf of their party asking folks to vote the straight ticket. Don't let your vote be thrown away on some of the straight ticket recipients out there. I urge you to do as I did, evaluate each candidate, and vote on their merits. If it's hard to get information about a candidate, then they're not the one you want to vote for. If they don't want to speak publicly about their candidacy or debate the issues, think twice about giving them your vote. Your right to vote is precious; don't throw it away because of someone else's ideas and ideals. Read, listen, and evaluate…then get out and vote.
It's Just My Opinion, but I'm Not Wrong
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