Reflections on Voting

For the most part, I've avoided political comments on this blog mainly because I'm disillusioned with politics in America. Regardless, I have been very fascinated by the Democratic and Republican primaries recently. But, with all of my interest it's hard for me to really believe that my vote really counts. I don't mean that in the sense that most people mean it. It's hard for me to have confidence in the political process because politicians are essentially professional con artists. Their objective in an election campaign is to make themselves into the image of who they believe the electorate wants them to be. Once a candidate is elected, he or she hardly ever turns out to be the "person" you were voting for. You instead were voting for an image concocted by campaign managers and spin doctors.

I did discover something really cool though. There is a website that provides non-partisan information regarding candidates policy positions, personal beliefs, and voting records. It has really helped me cut through some of the bull. Not only that, it gives details of state and local ballot issues. I highly recommend it. It's called VoteSmart.org. The technology is available to truly make our leaders accountable, but we need to use it.