Vote With Your Mind Not Your Party

One of the many reasons I love living in this country is because we can share our opinions, without fear of retribution. You will find in this Blog, I will be sharing my opinion quite often. In the first week of May 2010 we will be heading to the polls. I feel I would be remiss, if I didn’t share my opinion on this election. You may ask, “What does this election have to do with downtown Lorain?” I can answer by saying; this election will affect all downtown's all across American.
I’ve been reading a lot of articles, and a lot of ‘Letters to the Editor’, in the last few weeks. Everyone wants you to support their candidate, and there is nothing wrong with that. The thing that does make me nervous, however, is people voting mindlessly. If you are a registered Democrat or a registered Republican and you go into the polls and vote strictly down party lines you are voting mindlessly. I know there are a lot of people out there that don’t want to hear that, but it is true. I can assure that if you are a Republican, not every Republican is out for your best interest, and the same goes for the Democrats.
If you intend to vote you need to be educated about the issues and the candidates. Going into a voting booth and voting exclusively for your party can be a dangerous vote. For instance, if you are Pro-Life and you typically vote Republican, you can very easily vote for a Pro-Choice Republican, or visa-versa. There are many more examples like this.
A few weeks ago I caused my email to be bombarded when I made a statement about voting on my radio talk show. I simply said; “I think that if you are going to be registered to vote in this country that you should have to take a test.” How was I to know that I would be called Un-American for that statement? I stand by the statement. I truly feel that there are some people that should never be allowed in a voting booth. If you can’t tell me who the Vice President is, you need to stay away from the booth. If you live in Ohio and don’t know the Governors name, once again, stay away from the booth. I could go on and on.
People, who know me, know that I am very liberal in most of my beliefs. So it would probably surprise them to know that I voted for both George Bush’s. Having said that, the very first presidential candidate I voted for was Jesse Jackson. My two favorite presidents were Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.
In every period of American history we, as a country, have gone through different stages. We need a certain type of government based on what is going on at the time. A case in point is after 9/11. I truly feel George W Bush was the right person for the job. When he stood on the pile of rumble at ground zero in New York City, his approval rating was 90%. He was able to rally America together for a war that we needed at the time. I believe that as strongly as I believe that President Obama is the right person for the job, at this point in our history. In 2012 or 2016 we may need an entirely different kind of leader.
The old slogan of the United Negro College Fund was, “A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste.” That was never truer than when you walk into a voting booth. The future of Lorain depends on you doing your homework.