July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.

Get election over with so we can get on with life (11/06/06)

As I See It

By By DIANA DOLECKI-

Please go out and vote tomorrow. I don't really care who you vote for as long as you do your civic duty and pick one or more obnoxious rich people to represent you in whatever government office they happen to be running for.

Vote so that all those ads I have been putting together for the last few weeks aren't in vain. Vote, so that all the money and time that has been spent will count for something. You and I both know that the millions spent on campaigning could better benefit society. The theory is that the person who garners the most cash is best qualified to rule. That may not be the truth as scandal after scandal has proved, but it is the way we run this country. When we cast our ballots we demonstrate a belief that we have a say in who represents our best interests. Deep in our souls we hope that this one candidate really can make a difference.

At the ballot box, money and social status are irrelevant. It's one of the few forms of true equality we have in this world. In some places even dead people can vote and have for many years. A form of identification is required but apparently life is not necessary. I don't think they do that in the town where I live because everyone knows everyone else by sight but one never knows for sure what dead people are capable of.

If any candidate vows to reduce the amount of trees destroyed by limiting campaign literature then they will have my vote. As it stands now, I could fill an entire recycling bin with mass quantities of the detritus of the electoral process. I think of all the trees that gave their lives in vain for this election. I wonder what they think of all this nonsense. Do they laugh at us because we believe that we can really change the world just by pushing a few buttons?

I would also vote for an end to phone calls disguised as "surveys." If the phone rings I want it to be friends or family. I do not want to donate anything to any cause, however worthy it may be. I do not want to tell you what kind of shredded cheese I prefer or whom I plan to vote for. I do not need windows, siding or to have my nonexistent basement waterproofed. I confess to lying when asked who I will vote for or challenging their position on controversial issues.

By tomorrow night the election will all be over. There will be a brief flurry of thank-you ads from the candidates and most of the non-winners will fade into oblivion until the next chance to run for office. A select few will find other ways to change society for the better but most will not. There will be a bit of grumbling from the people who voted for losers. Even though my candidates rarely win I still insist on choosing the ones who agree with life as I see it.

I don't care who marries whom. There are certain things that are none of my business and I would like to keep it that way. If you want my vote then promise to provide better education opportunities for our children and good-paying jobs for our adults. Don't slash a budget just because you can. Instead, promise to give me value for my money. Price isn't everything. Just because I don't expect my legislators to waste money I also don't want them to concentrate on cost at the expense of quality.

There is a lot of effort, pride and work that goes into an election. Every candidate thinks they know everything. Most of them remind me of great apes beating their chests and challenging everybody in sight. I find many of them to be quite abrasive and most often vote against a candidate rather than for one.

In spite of all the flaws in the system we have for choosing leaders, there seems to be enough government bureaucracy that prevents any one person from doing much harm. And in the chance that someone really messes up America, then we, the people, have the obligation to remove that person from the job so that they can go on the lecture circuit and make more money than they made while in office.[[In-content Ad]]
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