Elections

Election day is just around the corner. And if I didn't already know that, the television and phone would let me know very quickly.

First, the TV. We have had political ads since, at least, the beginning of the year. There are many people dissatisfied with our present, first-term, governor, and the man who would become her opponent came out early with his political ads. Our governor didn't run ads until after the primaries--after her opponent started to climb in the polls. And now we have back-to-back political ads ALL OF THE TIME. First one candidate will come on and sling mud, then the other one will come on and defend him/herself and sling mud in the other direction. It has gotten so bad, that I can recite BOTH candidates commercials by heart--and we still have over a month to go before the election! I'm about ready to say, "Screw this!" and put myself down as a write-in candidate when I get in the voting booth!

Second, the telephone. I am getting to the point where I want to just turn my phone off because I am getting so many political calls. Yes, I just hang up immediately, but they are an annoyance, nonetheless. There is nothing like running to the phone, tripping over the cat, sliding on the hardwood floor, banging into the table and getting a bruise, just so I can answer the phone and hear, "So-and-so did such-and-such. Would you like him/her to run Michigan for the next four years?" I was going to listen to all of the taped messages just so I could get in touch with each campaign after every call, but it got to be too time consuming--that is how many calls I get! I am assuming they are NOT bound by the do-no-call list, but I don't know why--and I don't know how to get OFF of the lists they have.

What I find the most unsettling about the entire political process, though, are the voters. These ad campaigns work because voters will just hear what one candidate says and believe it--then vote accordingly. There will be NO homework, no digging into what the truth of the matter is, and no determining who the best person for the job is. My biggest criteria for voting: I WILL NOT knowingly vote for any candidate that is pro-choice--period. Other than that, I do my homework and vote for the person, not the party affiliation--although it is hard to vote for one party because of my rule. I WILL NOT vote for someone just because he/she is pro-life--that isn't enough to get my vote. And if after all of my research, I find neither candidate worthy of my vote, then I will not vote for either--that is my right.