I was so tempted to not vote. I almost didn't. It's not that I'm uneducated on the issues or the candidates, in fact, I'm probably a whole lot more aware than the average voter. It's just that, on just about every issue, I either couldn't make up my mind one way or the other, or I couldn't care less about the issue, or I didn't feel strongly about any candidate.
Plus, I don't really even know what I believe anymore. I was raised to believe that Republicans are quality people and Democrats are asses, that Republicans were good Christians and Democrats were hellbound. How silly is that?! But these days, I pretty much hate them all. It's just such a flawed, corrupt system. I'm sick of looking at my ballot and voting for the candidate I dislike less.
I'm in favor of people. I love my grandparents and Bill & Edie at my church. I love my son and my friends' children and the neighborhood kids. I love those who need help battling addictions and mental health issues. I'm very much in favor of human beings! But I'm also in favor of taxes that are as low as possible, as I don't think the government is supposed to fund everything.
We are not a society that abandons the elderly or the addicted or the mentally ill, regardless of how much money we "give" them on our property tax bill. They will be taken care of... by voting for tax increases, we're simply volunteering more money out of our pockets. What if we vote no? Will these people truly not be able to get the help they need? I doubt it...
My son will be going to Cincinnati Public Schools beginning in a few years, so I want the schools to be good. But CPS already spends more per student than any other district in the area, and now they're asking for almost $300 more from the owner of a $100k house? Seriously, how much do they need?
I think the CPS School Board is a joke, so I wanted to not cast a vote for the incumbent, but did I really want to vote for the face of the old Channel 19 Kids Club?
I love my city, and I want my City Council to be full of people who will help to make my city a better place. I didn't think a boy bander is necessarily the person I want, but I knew I didn't want all of the incumbents to remain on Council, so I figured I'd try to find a few challengers to vote for. But I bought into Chr1s Freaking Sm1th3rman a few years back when he appeared to not totally suck, so how should I feel confident in any of the newbies?
Politics ain't gonna solve the world's problems, and I didn't find a whole lot to be excited about today. But I made up my mind on a few things and went over to my polling location and somewhat hesitantly cast my vote.
Some people I respect chose not to vote at all. Years ago, I would've yelled at them and told them they needed to do their civic duty. Today, sadly, I understand.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
amen. i felt the exact same way about voting yesterday.
i struggle quite a bit with the underfunded vs. mismanaged thing. mainly because i watch every year in dismay as the school district i grew up in and my wife teaches in fails to garner support from its community.
opponents think that the school board is irresponsible and incompetent and they aren't using their resources properly; most of the folks touting that line haven't ever showed up to a school board meeting, though.
no one bothers to get informed. enveloped completely in their own little galaxies, they hear 'levy' and think 'more money' and their decision is made. they assume that the board is asking for $$ out of greed or malice, instead of desperation.
there aren't a lot of things i think more taxes will work on. i felt pretty strongly about issue 27, but moreso about the school levy - because education seems to be the silver bullet. and the levy failed by 18 votes. pretty weak.
(none of these claims are directed at you, scott - more just a general observation about the people in the northwest district)
Post a Comment