Who Is Your Candidate? What Is He About?

I have always found it both comical and sad that people today -- young and old -- are so misinformed about the people who they plan to vote for in elections. It usually validates my assumption that people buy into what I call 'fluff and sound bytes'.

Let a candidate take the stage and stand behind the podium and speak well and talk about change and hope, and everyone cheers in unison: "Yes! Yes! Yes! That is what we want!" But they sometimes never ask what that change and hope entails. How will all of the grand plans be financed? Who will pay? How does one qualify to even receive the benefit of the grand plans? For some reason, all of those questions are never asked and are never answered.

I very often hear folks say, "I hate Bush." I usually ask why they hate Bush. Many times, the person cannot tell me. If they manage to come up with a reason as to why they hate Bush, they are often unable to give me any example that will reflect their reason. The same thing holds true when the voter says, "I love Clinton." They usually can't tell me why -- other than that they love him.

There are many who throw their loyal and undying support behind a candidate for all the wrong reasons only to find that their beliefs are not the same as the candidate who they are supporting. I find this more with younger people than older people, but that's only because I think older people tend to read more about political issues.

What does a president's view of religion or abortion have to do with being president? Only that it might give an indication as to what type of Supreme Court Justice he will appoint. Presidents have no control over these issues. Those are issues that can only be dealt with within Congress or the Supreme Court.

Abortion, prayer in schools, taxes, gay rights, immigration, terrorism, foreign aid, domestic programs and retirement benefits are all examples of topics that will be determined by elected officials. However, I rarely find that the average voter knows where his or her candidate stands on those issues. People tend to spend too much time on superficial things, empty rhetoric and sound bytes affect their thinking processes more than the things that should count.

There's one thing about presidents that everyone seems to forget: Presidents are only chief administrators in one branch of the government. The president does not have the power to get up in the morning and do whatever he wants to do. There are two other branches of government who are involved with checks and balances. Congress and the Supreme Court are always part of just about every presidential decision.

Just to take a current event, let's look at the Iraq War. First, the president could not have ordered US troops to be involved in this unless Congress approved it. The president could not continue to keep troops there unless Congress authorized it and allowed money to be spent on it. Just think for a change ... doesn't Congress decide how all money is spent? The president has no authority over how money is spent unless Congress appropriates the money. So when I hear all of these Congressmen and Senators complaining about the war, I wonder why they keep voting to give the military the funds to stay there? And when I hear all of these Congressmen and Senators claim the president lied and falsified intelligence to take us into war, I wonder why Congress hasn't begun impeachment proceedings for such a serious offense? Think about it.

Bottom line: keep from being embarrassed. Know what you're talking about. Know what your candidate is about, and figure out if he or she is what YOU are about. You'll feel better about your vote.