The Screamin' Season
OK, it�s almost over.
We�re near the end of the race between the City Mouse and The Country Mouse, each of whom want to go Washington.
I ask: Can we send �em both?
And that�s the only national vote we get this time. Polititicians will still come in �just to meet me� because that's what elected officials need to do. But soon they will stop telling us how to do our job in covering politics.
Today, one side says we are definitely backing the other because they�ve been measuring headline depth and one set of headlines is always just a skoosh larger than the ones for their party.
The other comes in and says I am definitely on the first party�s payroll because of the placement on the page.
In an unrelated conversation with Marshall County legend and political icon Otis Bowen, I asked his view of this new political frontier.
He pointed out it only happens once in every 12-year cycle that there is no state or national leader on the voting ballot. No President, Governor or Senator. So, he said, it comes down to which side can get the voters out and into the voting booth a week from tomorrow.
He also offered that he was not in favor of the attack ads from any direction. He, like me, wants to know what someone stands for, not what they stand against.
What it comes down to, then, is you in a voting booth, at least two names from which to choose and the decision: Who will deliv-er for you what you want delivered.
In that sense, it is not much difference than my job when you choose to read our newspaper instead of another one. You want a politician in whom you can trust; one who will more often than not reflect your views and vote on issues the way you'd vote if you were there. A truly representative government.
I care not that an ex-Senator or a current President touches down on our local soil for a few moments to carry the party banner. I look at that as I look at a blimp over a football stadium: It doesn�t make me want to buy tires, but, hey, look at that blimp. Or the elephant in the circus; it doesn�t make me want to join the circus, but I�ve seen the elephant.
Personally, I usually vote for the folks who have the most hand-made signs posted. Someone had to do more than agree to let someone else stick some spikes in the lawn for a little while.
In my own world, the most important votes we cast will be for school boards. Our children are the most precious renewable asset we have. The teachers to whom we entrust them every day are the most important people in our lives.
The school board hires and oversees the teachers, sets the edu-cation agenda, decides their class sizes and allocates money in the payroll and funding for classroom supplies.
Sadly, most school board races are unopposed. Not much cam-paigning is needed, so we know little about the candidates other than they want the job.
Still, remains important to vote. During the next cycle, the teen queen who runs my house will be eligible. She plans to vote.
We are not a particularly political family, yet we try to make our children aware the importance of this privilege.
Whether we go to war (or is it stay at war?), whether we pay more or less on taxes, whether we break the stagnation in Washington . . . all of this hinges on, as Doc Bowen said, who gets the most voters to the polls.
It starts with you. Get yourself there. Then you�ll have the right to express your opinion on "Those Folks in Power" because at least you�re a participant and not standing on the sidelines.
And you still have a week to make up your mind.
This week, one more time, we�ll print the complete list of candi-dates and ballot initiatives. Take the time to read it. You don�t have to pull one big lever or another, not that there is anything wrong with that.
But please vote.
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