Political Lamesauce and How to keep it from sullying your opinion.
I’ll be the first one to admit, I am sort of a political outsider.
I have some pretty strong opinions on what should be done by the government and what roles it should play in our lives.
This post isn’t being made to feed anyone’s fire, but there is some common sense in following a leader I think many people need to re-evaluate.
Here are some rules and guidelines I follow in determining who I vote for:
1. Know what you want in our future.
I am pretty solid on what I want in my future. Without grandstanding, simply put I am a minimalist. There are exceptions, but that’s it plain and simple. Figure out what values YOU want, and stick to your guns. There is no moral sacrifice in voting. You either want something enough to vote for it or don’t want something enough to vote against the guy promoting it. Abstaining is a concept that has zero effect on our nation except to further other peoples values.
2. Know your choices in politicians.
This is the HUGE mistake everyone makes. Dems vs GOP…blah blah blah. None of them are in the same boat. Traditionally there are some lines drawn between those two parties because of lobby ties (like gun control and abortion etc). You should look past the party ties here. Write your local politicians. Ask them where they stand. ou can even use a canned letter detailing your concerns. I have received responses that are FAR more educational/enlightening than anything the news could or would provide in this manner. Believe it, they write you back…well unless you happen to have a website that might hurt their cause 😉
3. Don’t be an ass! Get out and Vote!!!
If you are of legal voting age, you have no excuse. I usually get involved with some programs to reach out and booth voting. If you have kids getting close to that age, show them the ropes, make it a part of their lives, etc. Just saying, this is an area where everyone should be leading by example.
Now if you’re wondering why I am writing this?
This morning I woke up and was reading my feed. A local Republican I was actually following had linked something that was VERY out of character for him. I went to the link and it was a mudslinging article against a local Democrat. This was the first time I’d seen this guy subscribe to this tactic…especially since the article was published by a blog rather than a legitimate news source. If it had been a local newsgroup etc this would have been different, but a little half-assed website that looked canned was publishing it with NO REFERENCES, and the contributing author is using a YAHOO email account…how funny is that?! essentially what I am boiling down is that the linked site is bullcrap. It’s a site without credentials, and most importantly designed to give the feel of something legitimate that it isn’t. I am not going to reference the site, and I will NOT endorse it, but I am going to keep watching it and see if they publish ore inaccurate articles. If that continues, then I will just start responding to them with articles of my own on the same topic…and I guarantee mine will see more readers 😉 Oh…and that local Republican just lost my vote too.
-Tony
