Election Day-Vote

Last night I attended the Open Mike Forum at my church. Like most of the live events I have gone to this year, the attendance was poor. Even the rallies where the national and state level candidates appeared were lightly attended. Newspapers are going out of business or reducing staff because people aren’t reading them. The major news networks, and certainly CNN and FOX, give the spin without a lot of substance. There are only two bright spots from my perspective as a retired American history and government teacher. One is that some voters may be turning to the Internet to find information about their candidates. I hope they are able to ferret out the sites that offer real information from those with nothing but propaganda. The other is that C-Span still exists and offers voters varied and information rich opportunities to be educated about the issues and the candidates. What is really disgusting to me are the ads and what seems to be their effect on voters. They either convince the lazy or easily persuaded voters to tow the party line or turn voters off entirely and convince them that there is no point to voting. I am not sure which is worse for our democracy, those who vote without doing the research and thinking for themselves or those who don’t vote at all.
We are a representative democracy and we get the kind of government we deserve. The government in Columbus has been scandal ridden and corrupt. It would be easy to blame Republicans for the mess, but I can only blame the voters. Our gerrymandered legislative districts have pretty much guaranteed that little actual information will be given to voters during an election year. It is time for Ohio voters to take control of their government by seeking out information and voting thoughtfully in this election. We have three branches of government and districts based on population through the wisdom of our founding fathers, but checks and balances do not work if we allow our representatives to become responsible to political party organizations and special interests instead of their constituencies. So, I am begging everyone to vote this year, but thoughtfully and only after really looking at ALL the issues and candidates. I a hope they will be energized instead of turned off by the ads and demand that both political parties inform voters instead of insult them. It is time we had a true system of checks and balances in Columbus. That can only happen when voters are paying attention.

For a humorous look at the ads and their effect click the link below:
Markfiore's Animated Cartoon