Make an informed decision on election day
To the editor:
Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, you have to admit, you love the entertainment that the candidates provide during this time in a campaign season. With all the facts about each other’s campaign, it’s all too easy to get mixed up and spout off something that makes your running mate cringe. Don’t worry, the media is always there to remind you in the off-chance you have forgotten about it.
Joe Biden’s informing the middle class that they had been buried for the last four years or Mitt Romney’s "47 percent" statement are both true, and it’s not really something that either party can be proud of.
I’m reminded of a time, during a past election year, when in the midst of a conversation with a very intelligent man and I were talking about issues.
I asked the man, "What do you think of such and such?"
He looked at me, with one of his, “Now, Joanna, are you really asking me this?” looks, and said: “I’m not going to influence your opinion.”
I knew he was challenging me and, in other words, he was telling me to look into it myself. So, I did.
This man and I have often found common ground on most issues – not all – but most. I took his advice and looked into what both sides were telling the voters. In the end, we did share the same opinion. Therefore, I felt I had been raised to his level of intelligence – on that particular issue.
Many Americans do take the steps to look into the issues and the candidates and they make informed votes when they go to their respective voting location.
On the other side of that coin, there are many Americans who sit back and let others do the research, then they vote how someone else told them to vote.
One candidate may be pro life while the other candidate is pro choice. When, if you think about it, if (the biggest two letter word in the English language) this issue were for the president to decide, the laws would be doing more flips than the students at Noreen’s School of Dance.
One candidate may have experience organizing people, which to others seems like rallying protests, while another candidate may have worked hard, made good business decisions and earned a comfortable living. No one should be faulted on his or her accomplishments.
What it all comes down to is this, if you take all of the he said/she said rhetoric and put it into a boiling pot, boil all the water out of it, what we are left with is an election.
We have two men who believe they can help make America, the country we all share, a better place for Americans.
Just as I was challenged, years ago, I challenge you, the voters of Highland County to take the steps to research the issues and the candidates themselves.
WVNU Radio will be broadcasting the 2012 AAUW Candidates Forum on Oct. 8 at Southern State Community College. Go to the forum or listen to the broadcast, meet the candidates, listen to the issues, and make an informed and educated vote when you step up to the voting machine.
Sincerely,
Joanna Mahan
Highland County