democracy

Today is an election day in our state and county and city. I now proudly wear my "I voted" sticker. I say proudly but maybe not. I was the 31st voter in my dinky little rural county. Even though they handed me a big piece of paper and an uncapped felt-tipped pen, I voted for a whopping two people. I have never voted for people I don't know anything about - even if running unopposed. So I left most of the spaces blank.

I consider myself fairly well-read; especially in the political realm. But today I didn't know diddly about almost everybody on the ballot. Who's fault is that? In one newscast I can see half-a-dozen ads for the major state-wide offices. But as Tip O'Neill used to say; "All politics is local." Where are/were all these people in the weeks running up to today's vote? I don't expect, nor should they buy TV time.

A friend and former co-worker is running for a state office. I can't vote for him because he doesn't represent my area but his main tactic was going door-to-door. He alloted something like 30-45 minutes everyday to walk the district and meet people. I'll bet he gets lots of votes from people who may or may not know where he stands on all the issues.

While I have some strong personal feelings about a lot of issues, I don't think most of them matter at the local levels. I'd probably have voted for somebody if they'd taken the time to drive around and meet people in their district. I can tell you some of their names because I pass their signs everyday. But that doesn't tell me how hard they will work to deal with issues and problems in our county. If someone is willing to get out and burn up a little shoe leather (or gas!), I'm much more likely to pay attention to them and perhaps support them with my vote.