It's Almost Time To Vote

Here we go again. November is coming quickly and the day is coming when you actually get to have some input in who allegedly will represent you in Washington. Actually, it's the day when you get to choose from people that their respective political parties decided you get to choose from. That's not much of a choice. I have suspected for many years that we have all been hoodwinked into thinking that there is more than one political party. The evidence is in the results or should I say lack thereof. Some people will vote for whoever is the candidate for their party, regardless of who he is, what he has done, or whatever he looks like. Some people will vote for whoever tickled their ears the most.....making promises that sound great on the surface but impossible to fulfill. Others will simply vote for whoever is the "cutest" or "better" looking. (Doubt that?......Ask John Kerry how much he spent on make-up and hair-dye.) Those people that do that ought to just stay home. More others will vote with no clue as to who to pick right up the the last second....deciding merely on a guess.....a kind of voter's russian roulette. Even more others will vote for the candidate that promises to address a specific issue...even though that same candidate would probably otherwise be a very bad choice regarding 99% of all of the other issues that need to be adressed. Those voters need to stay home as well.

I will be voting in November. Unfortunately I will not get the opportunity to use the new computerized voting machines because I will be out of the country on that day. Instead, I get to submit an absentee ballot. What worries me about this is that in every election somewhere in the USA somebody will either mess up the count and not include the absentee ballots, or......given the historical shenanigans of the political machines in this country, some of the absentee ballots may conveniently dissappear. I do not trust any of them and I have no way of verifying if my vote gets counted.

I think voting is a very important tool for the average citizen if used wisely. Politicians that go around thinking they are entitled to be a Senator or Congressman or even a Governor because they happen to be in a family that produced politicians or married into one, need to be held in check somehow. We actually have the ability to hold these people in check. Surely you should know that if you had a successful career as an artist, your son or daughter may not have the ability to draw a decent circle with a pencil. The logic, that offspring from a certain lineage would produce equal or better than the fathers, is faulty as all get out.

I found one way to try to make a difference. I am a registered Democrat here in Maryland. The Democratic Party believes that they are pretty much guaranteed that all of the registered Democrats will vote for their candidate. In fact, they count on it. You might ask how that would even be a way to hold them in check. I vote in the primary elections and vote for whoever I think the party would least want as their top dog in the final election. If enough people did that, it would really upset the political machine. Messages need to be sent to these political thugs. Secondly, I try to vote for candidates that are excluded from televised debates. Whenever a candidate is excluded, as several were here in Maryland, from a debate, I have to wonder why that is. Some of these political organizations who sponsor and set up debates, such as the League Of Women Voters, have the audacity to even make more narrow the field of choices that you and I have to choose from. That kind of activity is the equivalent of tampering. Oh......they would say "we excluded those who had no chance of winning" or "we excluded those whose poll numbers were less than the required numbers to qualify for the debate". This is ridiculous stuff and you would expect such bullcrap from the mafia or some other group that would try to make it so you have no say in any matter. We need to change our election process. We need groups like the League Of Women Voters to not have the ability to aid and abet the poitical machines. It should be mandatory that there are at least five public debates prior to each election and those debates would include ALL possible candidates from ALL possible parties. That is the only FAIR way to do it. Such a change in the process would put the voter back in control. Until that happens, folks like me have to vote like we do, in hope that we run some interference.

As I am writing this installment to the blog it just so happens that there is a televised debate airing on Maryland Public Television. As it happens, the League Of Women Voters is the sponsor again. As it happens, there are only two candidates for Governor of Maryland debating. Governor Robert Ehrlich (R) and Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley (D). As usual, the general populace will not ever be told if there are any other people running for Governor. We are only permitted to pick between two. That's all we are allowed to know about. Honestly, I wouldn't believe for one minute that either of the two are actually the very best possible people for the job. Surely O'Malley isn't. If O'Malley is the best that the Democratic Party can come up with, well, this must be the latest proof of their demise in the State of Maryland. I wouldn't say that Ehrlich has been the best Governor either, but I have come up with my own policy regarding these politicians.

The policy is......if you get elected, we allow you one term to try to accomplish something. We allow you the first term to get the feel of the position as well. If you didn't accomplish one thing in that first term....you are out of there. If you accomplished one thing, then you get a second term due to the fact you are now more familiar with the job. Think of it as a second chance. That's it, no third chances. End of story. As to those fat cats in Washington.........same policy. People are supposed to get elected to "serve" us. They are not given a "career". Quite simply, you yourself could never hold down a job for years and years while doing nothing to deserve it. Politicians should be held no differently. By the way......have you noticed how many Senators are millionaires?........and they would tell you they needed that raise......shame on them! Vote them out!

While I am at it, I may as well mention the passing of US Rep Gerry Studds (D) at 69 (no pun intended) years of age. The first openly gay congressman. Studds managed to serve TWELVE terms! The same Studds that was involved in a teenage page sex scandal. That scandal was somewhat glossed over and forgotten about.............but.................how did THAT happen? I hear that Democrats are outraged over the current Foley scandal. I just couldn't understand this until I read that Studds was from Cape Cod.........that's right, folks........Massachussetts! Yet another Massachusetts politician. Where was Ted Kennedy during all of this stuff?........well......he was probably teaching his nephew (William Kennedy Smith) a thing or two while they were romping around the Kennedy compound in West Palm Beach. The people of Massachusetts must be proud.