It’s almost 2010—an election year. I hope that one of your New Year’s resolutions will be to learn more about the people who will be running for public office. I also hope that in your research that you will not just listen to campaign speeches, sound bites and bumper stickers, but will find out about their voting records, if they have held office before, and their political philosophies.

We have all been sitting on the couch watching mindless TV for too long. Now is the time to learn about the candidates, and not after the election (like I did about Ross Perot.) If a candidate is not fit for office, we need to know now so that we can perhaps find a better one. If we can’t find one that we think is fit, then I guess we’ll have to go to Plan B—the lesser of two evils.

I have often heard people say that they will vote for the lesser of two evils, but have you ever noticed that most of the time there are more than two choices on the ballot? In those cases, there are still two evils. The two established party candidates (Democrat and Republican) are one evil, and anybody else is the lesser of the two evils, and yet almost nobody votes for these other parties, even though a lot of people say that they vote for the lesser evil.

Does everybody understand how professional wrestling works? In front of the camera, on a stage, or anywhere in public, there are the good guys and the bad guys. Backstage, or hotel rooms, or some other place where they are not seen by the public, these guys are interchangeable, and sometimes do just that through the use of disguises. Sometimes they don’t even bother to disguise themselves. It’s according to what city they are in as to whether or not they want to portrait themselves as good or bad. Now, read this paragraph again and see if that doesn’t fit some of the politicians you know.

There is a big difference between the platforms and policies of these two parties. Now I ask you to remember what I said in the first paragraph about researching the candidates voting records and political philosophies. Do these people actually vote like they belong to their political party? If Adolph Hitler was a registered Democrat or Republican, would you vote for him? Please do not vote on party lines!

Oh, but you say that you vote for the man and not the party! If you are a staunch Republican, there is no one better to vote for than Ron Paul. Check his voting record. He has consistently voted along the lines of the Republican policies more than any other person in Washington. Yet the Republican Party ignores him. Why? Because the Republican Party is no longer the Republican Party. Under Bush, the Republican Party, who claims to want smaller government, increased the size of the government more than any previous administration. And then along came the first black president who makes Bush look like an amateur.

And all of these people who wanted a black president, where were you when only 16 of us in Decatur County voted for Alan Keyes in 2000? How many of you even know that Keyes was running and that he was black? Yes, I voted for a black man because of those running at the time, I thought that he was the best one. I was ready for a black president. I had done my research on Bush and his family and I didn’t like anything that I found. You staunch Republicans should do a little checking. And you staunch supporters of Obama should do the same! How could anybody who has done at least 20 minutes of research vote for Obama. And God help us if McCain had been elected.

Now I’m asking you to help with 2010 elections. Do your research. Find out who’s running, how they voted, and what they really believe. (If the national news media is favoring a particular candidate, then that should be a red flag indicating a candidate we do not want in office.) Put what you have found out in the form of a letter to this paper. We need your letters to this paper so that all of us will be better informed.

We don’t need attacks on each other. I did not intend to hurt anyone’s feelings. I will not attack anyone who replies to this letter. If you attack me, then you have just added to the confusion of politics. My purpose is to get the facts and not the rhetoric. I support a particular candidate, then make it your business to show me how I’m wrong. As 1 said before, I found out I was wrong about Ross Perot too late. Don’t let me (or anybody else) do that again.

Respectfully,

David Brookins

Seminole County