The Election, November 2, 2010

Should you vote?- That is easy, YES. It is your right, your privilege. How can you complain about government if you don't participate?
Who to vote for?- That is not so easy. The deluge of attack ads this year have been overwhelming. I recently spent a night in Cincinnati, on local TV I learned that an Ohio politician did all the terrible things that I have be told a Pennsylvania politician did! Are they both guilty of the very same act? Perhaps they are twins? Boy that was a shock.
Sometime I feel its best just not to watch, but where can you hide?
There are several websites where you can check out the 'facts' of various ads, and with the number of ads being run you could spent your entire waking hours doing so. Two such sites are FactCheck.org and Politifact.com
One clue might be - who is paying for the ad. Good luck with that, organizations I never heard of, no possible way to find out where their money comes from. Some of the names sound so patriotic that I want to solute, then I remember some of the junk mail that arrives in may mail box daily. But wait, the US Chamber of Commerce, great organization, I know what a Chamber of Commerce does, a group of business people who band together to promote a community and improve the local business climate, so why are they paying for attack ads?
Wouldn't you just love a candidate to tell you what he/she stands for, how she/he are going to actually do something, why you should vote for them rather than why you should not vote for their challenger.
Can there really be so many evil people running for political office? And what do I really know about Pelosi, Reed, Boehner or McConnell. I'm not voting for them, I am voting for someone to represent me!
There is even one candidate in PA, I'll call him Mr. X, whose attack ads against his opponent, Mr. Y, that I find so offensive that I'm voting for Mr. Y even though I voted to elect Mr. X to his current office.
Just think of what good uses that all the dollars being spent on attack ads could be put to.
One other possible source of help, the AARP. Their website , "It's your source to find out where the candidates stand." Each candidate is asked the same question, ranging from Social Security to long-term care, and the answers appear side-by-side. The problem I found that in my area the candidates declined to respond to the questions, perhaps too busy writing attack ads!!!!
Read the endorsements in your newspapers. However, read why they are endorsing a particular candidate, not just whom they are endorsing. The reasons may be opposite of your thinking.
So who do you vote for? Try doing fact checking on races important to you. Try asking yourself if what you see and hear in an attack ad even makes plausible sense. If its too evil to be true, it probably isn't.