Cast That Ballot

Television commercials have taken a significant nosedive in integrity recently.  Sure, Cheerios might help cholesterol and Geico might save money on insurance but both are for-profit companies.  But, just when I’m comfortable with the sharks in the water, here comes election season.

Trusting a political add to guide your vote is like a teen girl asking a teen boy if she should sleep with him.  His goal isn’t to relay factual information guiding the young lady to a thoughtful and informed decision.  He just wants to earn a “yes” so he can…well, you know what he wants to do…the same thing many politicians want to do to us.

If I seem skeptical toward the intentions of politicians it’s for one simple reason…I’m not a complete idiot.  In my home state a freshman congressman makes as much money for four months of service as a teacher with fifteen years of experience does for ten months (guess who determines both those salaries).  And in my country congressmen have PAC funds that allow the use of donations for personal trips, babysitting and putting relatives on the payroll.  Forget Red-State/Blue-State, America’s philosophy gap is citizens/elected officials.

If you’re wondering whether I’m a conservative or a liberal allow me to be clear, neither and both.  I fall directly in party lines with Republicans on a few issues, directly in party lines with Democrats on others and somewhere in the middle on most.  The reason why: I think for myself.  Allowing a news source or a political spokesperson to frame morals is like letting the friends of that teenage boy help the girl decide if she should sleep with him.  They’ll gain their friend’s appreciation and she’ll get…well, we discussed that earlier.

If you’re not going to trust “political experts” (code for the financially vested vocal), who can you trust?  The same people you’d trust in an emergency, your friends.  Want to know how a candidate will impact education, ask a teacher you trust.  Want to know if a candidate’s promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act is helpful to small businesses, ask a small business owner you trust.  Want to know if a candidate is a moral and upstanding citizen…OK, that one’s harder.

Determining the integrity of someone you’ve never met is, at best, nearly impossible.  It’s unlikely Bob Filner would show a montage of “ladies groped” or Anthony Weiner would run an add bragging about his genital selfies.   However, the voting record of a person shows their morals in action.  Websites like votesmart.org give you a peek into what a politician has done (versus the edited highlights of vested media outlets or their self-designed 60-second summary of qualifications).  There’s no guarantee the ‘crazy’ won’t break loose during the next term, but knowing someone’s past goes a long way to predicting their future.

Information is easy to get…factual information is not.  It’s inconvenient to do meaningful research, but making a good decision is easier than correct a bad one (ask Eve if she’s happy about her conversation with the snake).  If you’re voting based solely on you favorite talking head’s view point, don’t, they already get a vote.  But if you’ve done the research, cast that ballot.