A Word about Politics...

By nature, I try to avoid political discussions. I am not above discussing the issues, if it can be an intelligent conversation, but too many times things end up boiling down to someone saying, "You don't think like I think, so you're wrong." (Kinda like some "religious" fundamentalists that spew the ideology of "If you don't believe exactly the way we believe, you're going to Hell." Last time I checked, all "Christian" churches use essentially the same Bible... and I seem to remember a line that states "Let [he] who is without sin cast the first stone"... and some people just don't seem to get it...)

Anyway, back to politics. It all becomes an issue of "spin", and I am fine with that concept - every product or every person that succeeds, does so based on the level of promotion that can be generated. Sustained success is to to the merit and skills of the item/work/person. The problem that I have with the "spin", is when it gets personal, and instead of addressing the issues, the "spin" walks the razor's edge of potentially being viewed as slander.

The other (major) issue, as the die-hards - those that would vote straight ticket, regardless of who the candidates are. A 700-pund gorilla could be listed on the ballot, and if the party affiliation matched, it would get a vote - without question. I was talking with my sister-in-law about that last night, and she said, "[Straight ticket] is a cop-out... it's the lazy way to vote." And (in my opinion) she's right...

The point in politics is for the people to select the person they believe to be the best qualified choice to be their leader, based on the issues that the individual voter thinks are important. It shouldn't be an issue of race, gender, or party affiliation, but sadly that is how things play out all too often.

I'm intentionally trying to make sure this post is phrased in a non-partisan fashion. In the grand scheme, what I believe and what [you] believe will likely be different for some reason or other. In the event that the views are similar, odds are in favor that we arrived there down different roads. Personally, I don't really care [semanticly] how the voting results will play out - regardless of who wins, in any position, there will always be those that will find something to disagree with.

With everyone focusing on the presidential campaign, both sides are spouting the idea of "change". My only hope is that a majority of people vote based on things that really matter - a candidate's stand on the relevant issues that are important to them. Forget party affiliation. Forget race, religion and gender. The voting needs to be about the issues. That is the only way things are really going to change.