Thursday, September 02, 2004

Educate Yourself America!

It is time to get serious about the election. The problem, as I see it, is that there are too many people making statements without arming themselves with facts. Many well-meaning people "edit" their statements to boost their own credibility and strengthen their opinion.

Unfortunately, many of these people are in the limelight, and have the ability to manipulate the minds of a percentage of voters.

Case in point - how many people are going to vote for John Kerry bacause Al Franken, Alec Baldwin, or Natalie Maines tell them they should? How many people are going to vote for Bush because of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, or Toby Keith?

My point here is that ALL of the above named people have an agenda. They don't tell you that the opposing side does have good ideas, only that their opponents are incompetent, evil morons. To paraphrase John McCain in a radio interview the other day "The Democrats have some good ideas and they have some bad ideas. The Rebulicans have some good ideas and they have some bad ideas. We need to remember that both sides have the best interest of the nation at heart, they just have different ideas on how to accomplish the goal."

So I am urging everyone to read the Democratic Party platform and the Republican Party platform and decide for yourself which party reflects your views. I personally am reading each and trying to take my emotions about John Kerry and George Bush out of the mix. In the process of reading and thinking about the platforms, I am discovering why I believe the way I do. I strongly urge all to do the same.

The Democratic platform can be found at http://www.dems2004.org/site/pp.asp?c=luI2LaPYG&b=97933

The Republican platform can be found at http://www.rnc.org/gopinfo/platform underneath the "About the GOP" heading.

Please urge everyone you know to take a little time and make an informed decision. Forget Natalie, Sean, Al, Toby, Rush, and Alec. We are all adults and can decide for ourselves.

Finally, after you have read both platforms and made a rational decision, take the time to talk (discuss, not argue) with someone who does NOT share your views! It will make you defend your position, you might learn something from them, and they might just come around to your way of thinking.

The most powerful force in this nation is an educated electorate!

2 comments:

Frater Bovious said...

*whining* But that's too hard. Why should I think for myself when highly paid people can think for me?

Thanks for the links! Good advice. FB

Kat said...

Absolutely agree. And, when they are talking about issues outside of their posted agenda, one should always take the time to look up the information they are quoting, like job statistics, and look at what is really shown by the numbers and whether they support either sides claims.

Information keeps you free.