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The More Perfect Union of Informed Citizens who Vote




So now we are thinking about how to write the beginning pages of the epitaph in this dreadful Election Season full of sturm and drang and little content in between. After viewing the SNL debates, and the real ones, it seems that the essence of the election season was captured in comic relief. The real heroes have been the few media outlets and individuals focusing on discussion of the facts. There have been some attempts by the print media: notably the series that focused on where the candidates stand on issues put together by the  Associated Press and some other major newspapers. and the individual Newsweek reporting of Kurt Eichenwald and the Washington Post's David Farenthold, both who did good, old-fashioned nose-to-the-ground digging for facts about some of the hard to come by details of Trump's charitable donations and foreign business interests.

It's been a while since it's actually been enjoyable for most to speak of the approaching Election. And there's still the mystery person who not only sent the New York Times reporters copies of Trump's IRS returns from past years, but also yet to be uncovered is the identity of the person who leaked the now infamous Billy Bush Access Hollywood tape showing Trump as he talked about women. These are things yet to be discovered, and perhaps more will come of the other October Surprise, the FBI reporting on Anthony Weiner's computer where his wife Huma purportedly had some e-mails regarding her boss, Hillary Clinton. All of these things will be historical footnotes in less than a week from today. So, the question is: Do we have a nation and an electorate to be proud of? Or should we begin to do soul-searching reviews, not only of the major parties and how we choose our candidates, but also of the Media frenzy that surrounds each heated political season.

Should we move to shorten the campaign seasons? Some have called for this as the ultimate solution. My feeling is no, because the true discovery about the candidates can only come to surface after some reporters spend months and untold hours doing the real behind the scenes, unglamorous work of reporting. And the heart of the American electorate exists with the people who do believe in their candidates, and we see more than simply one or two black and white issues laid before the public. We need to be an Informed Body of Electors, those of us who go to the polls and vote on Election Day.

The problem is, there are a myriad number of issues. People vote in all different fashions, and in varying states, in different time zones and through various periods leading up to the actual Election Day. It is up to the American Electorate to know the issues that are on the ballot on Election Day. Not just one or two simple decisions, but a slate of issues are laid out before us. Our local votes, our state funding, the environment, marijuana legalization, women's reproductive issues, taxation, and many other vital parts of our nation's government are listed on most state ballots. We must become a better and wiser version of the Informed Electorate.  There really are no excuses, not with the Internet and the amount of time that we afford to these elections every four years.

In truth, the cycle runs through every two years, as we will next be faced with almost as important, if not more so, voting decisions when we vote to seat the next House of Representatives, our Senate leaders, our State representatives and State house parties. These are the separate branch of Representatives who control the bills that go through Congress, with issues on State ballots including the same vital slate of questions surrounding national issues of clean water, transportation and infrastructure, taxation, legalization of marijuana, environmental and women's issues. This is one of the reasons that we did see the emergence of candidates like Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. Because we Do have a choice. We need to exercise the right to vote more frequently, not less! That is the difference between who writes our laws and decides about issues like immigration reform and the regulation of Wall Street. When we decide that voting and listening to candidates talk about the issues, and not about which candidate is going to jail and is unfit to serve, then perhaps we will begin to make forward progress in our national and the ongoing debate as to how we become a better and more perfectly United union of informed citizens who vote.


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