Congratulations on your election victory. I'd like to ask you to work with everyone in the House to do what's best for our country and our state, regardless of party. I hope you do not agree with Mitch McConnell that the over-riding goal of the GOP controlled House is to ensure that President Obama loses in 2012. That kind of partisan, divisive rhetoric is unhelpful, unproductive, and an example of what is wrong with politics today.
The challenges that face our nation are huge, and we need the best ideas to be considered, worked out and put into action to solve them, which can't happen when Democrats and Republicans adopt a "my way is the only way" approach. I was disappointed when the GOP was in the minority and continually refused to do anything but attempt to block legislation in an effort to hand the President a "defeat." I hope that, going forward, you and your party will be willing to compromise to get good legislation passed that will help the country recover and heal.
Sincerely and respectfully,
Stephen Beckner
Thursday, November 04, 2010
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Frustration, Helplessness, Apathy
I know people who aren't voting today because they feel uninformed on the candidates. I've heard this many times. The feeling that it doesn't matter anyway. All it leads to is apathy and cynicism.
What it boils down to is laziness. We go out of our way to make sure we don't miss out on who got cut from Dancing With The Stars or American Idol, but we don't bother to spend a little time looking into the issues. We were bombarded by an unprecedented amount of deliberate misinformation via negative campaigning this election cycle, with the promise of even worse to come in two years. It only takes a short internet trip to Politifact.com or Factcheck.org to find out what is true and what is not in these ads. Votesmart.org has tools to help research candidates and their views. Most of us simply don't feel like spending the time to do it. Out of laziness, many people vote for candidates who do not represent their best interest. I've spoken to people who are fired up, wanting to repeal the health care law, but who don't know what is in it. The information is out there, and if you have a computer and internet connection, you can become informed in short order. I guess whoever is going to be your next governor or representative is less important than taking care of your crops in Farmville.
What it boils down to is laziness. We go out of our way to make sure we don't miss out on who got cut from Dancing With The Stars or American Idol, but we don't bother to spend a little time looking into the issues. We were bombarded by an unprecedented amount of deliberate misinformation via negative campaigning this election cycle, with the promise of even worse to come in two years. It only takes a short internet trip to Politifact.com or Factcheck.org to find out what is true and what is not in these ads. Votesmart.org has tools to help research candidates and their views. Most of us simply don't feel like spending the time to do it. Out of laziness, many people vote for candidates who do not represent their best interest. I've spoken to people who are fired up, wanting to repeal the health care law, but who don't know what is in it. The information is out there, and if you have a computer and internet connection, you can become informed in short order. I guess whoever is going to be your next governor or representative is less important than taking care of your crops in Farmville.
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