It’s Election Day again and it’s so discouraging to see the lack of interest many people seem to have. There are of course those that are active and aware of politics, but that is such a small number in comparison to those people who don’t know and in many cases don’t even care. Is it any wonder that we get many low quality candidates and elected officials?
I always enjoy a spirited debate with a knowledgeable opponent, unfortunately I talk to so many people who have no idea of what’s going on and could care less. Yes it’s nice to educate them maybe even win them to my side of an argument but it makes me wonder what will happen to our country.
I remember when my grandfather and grandmother would sit down and go over the ballot together. They were strong democrats but always talked over the choices and sometimes voted for the other party’s candidate. Now many of my friends simply say who should I vote for?
Who should I vote for? What a question, I guess some people are so busy earning a living that they are just living day to day. Maybe they come home dead tired and just fall asleep. There are folks that don’t work and have become disengaged from current events.
Many of these people are ripe pickings for community organizers who promise many things to get people to vote. There are employers who bus employees to vote and some that offer unscrupulous enticements for their vote. Just a generation ago voting was a big deal and no one would sell their vote, so what has happen to us?
Maybe life has become too complex and complicated, so much so that people don’t have time or they don’t think it’s worth their time. Maybe that’s it. People are so distanced from government that we have lost touch. They say “We can’t do anything to change things so why bother”. It’s a lot like a Merry-Go-Round ride, take what the government will give us and keep the ride going.
Many people don’t even think the ride will ever end, because why should they, it’s a ride that has been going for as long as they have been alive. The Merry-Go-Round is funded by our wealth and prosperity and now that that is fading, as long as we can print paper money to pay for all the goodies why would anything stop? Good question why stop, let the good times roll.
But aren’t cracks starting to appear? Government is cheer-leading but some of the cheers are starting to ring hollow. How about the” The low un-employment rate”, lowest in years; how does that work? Just say people stopped looking for work so we will not count them and then the rate goes down.
The “economy is recovering”, not much happening around here, all I hear about is more people being laid off. Oh yes some hiring at Jack in the Box (the previous employee found out that you get more by being unemployed than working and you don’t have to get up early).
Most understand that as soon as the working people find out that they are getting fewer in number, and need to pay more so that others don’t have to work, the ride will begin to slow. But the promises continue, vote me in and I’ll give you something. You don’t have to earn it just let me in.
In this election it’s just a shame that the promisers and the enablers will get in and many voters don’t have a clue. Hale to the illusionists, Let the good times roll. Let’s hope some wake up and begin to look around and see what is really happening and reject the giveaway artists before the ride stops.
Mike Young is a retired water and power executive who resides in Mesquite. Graduated from the University of LaVerne he has taught communications skills and technical subjects throughout the Western Hemisphere. In addition to writing and editing technical manuals he has a book titled “Speaking for Effect”. He has received some of the highest awards and recognition from both professional and public organizations
