Political Warning...

Did you know that when George Washington was asked to serve another term in office he said, with a heavy heart, "Have I not done enough already for my country?"  I know old-time English is hard to understand so allow me to translate: "I'm tired of babysitting you people now bugger off.  I want to go fishing."  It's hard to believe given today's political environment but "back in the day", people didn't want to be president.  Well, that's not entirely true...better stated, people didn't want to seem eager to be president because they didn't want the public to view them as power hungry.  See, the public then still had the unfortunate memories of being ruled over by a king and being ruled in almost every aspect of their life.  So, naturally, if somebody seemed too eager to be president the public would, for good reasons, get spooked and fear the candidate was in it for the power and not the good of the public and country.  Fast forward a few hundred years and look at where we're at.  It seems like the presidential seat goes to the highest bidder and the smoothest talker, or, if you're like me, it seems like I'm always voting against somebody instead of for somebody.  And why is it that we're in this kind of a pickle?  Because we as the American public have allowed it and, on many levels, have encouraged it.  So I have a few ideas of what we as Americans can do to try to elect better officials to represent US.  (By the way, this is what we should be doing anyway.)

Turn Off the Political Crap on TV:  Stop listening to the TV.  If I had enough money, I could start an advertising campaign that could get millions of Americans believing almost anything.  Why?  Because we put too much faith in what's on TV...which leads into my next point...

Do Your Own Research: Don't be lazy and take the easy and effortless information.  Just like the hundreds of e-mails you get every week promising you a free iPad, the free political information you get is typically superficial at best.  It's never been so easy to search the web and have billions of bits of information at your fingertips.  Use it and educate yourself on who you really want to represent you in office.

(By the way, if you get an e-mail from some Middle-Eastern Prince asking you to give him your bank account number so he can forward you a large sum of cash, that's probably a scam as well.  See?  I'm full of good advice...)

Be Involved: How many of us know what a Caucus is?  How many people have volunteered at the polls or have engaged otherwise in a campaign?  How many of us know who our representatives are?  Think about it-if you can't answer these questions how are you going to answer bigger ones?





Keep It Local: One of the best ways to influence large government is to influence small government.  Stay involved on the local level.  Go to City Council meetings, stay in touch with your district and county representatives.

Keep an Eye On Them: After they're elected, keep an eye on your representatives.  Know what they are and aren't voting for and if you don't like it, let them know.  It's also nice to let people know when they're doing a good job or when you're happy with them. 

I don't think I've ever been in a political "discussion" with somebody that I haven't liked WHEN they have done their homework.  I can not fault you for having a different opinion than I do but I CAN and WILL make fun of you if you come up to me, start a conversation, and have no clue what you're talking about.  "I don't know..." is a perfectly good answer if it is true.  Think about it, we're the most intelligent life out there (that we know of), so why would we not live up to that and use our noggin?