Do Your Research Before Voting

This article was first published in the Staunton Newsleader on August 3, 2008

What does it mean to be a responsible citizen? Recycling, paying taxes on time, pulling over for emergency vehicles, following traffic rules, and many other behaviors can be described as being responsible. Many claim it is imperative to get out and vote in order to be a responsible citizen. Both parties make major efforts to “get out the vote.” They claim it is your duty to go out and vote for the candidate that you support. But is simply going out and voting enough to be considered acting responsibly? There are many in this country who look for the D or the R beside a candidate’s name. That is not voting responsibly; that is voting based off of preconceived viewpoints that you know everything about a specific candidate simply based on the party they associate themselves with. Joe Lieberman and Nancy Pelosi might both be Democrats, but they are very different politicians. Not all Democrats are alike and not every Republican resembles George W. Bush. It is important in the 2008 elections to vote for the candidate, not the party. Vote for the policies of the individual, and whom you believe would do the best job. In 2008, vote for John McCain, or for Barack Obama, don't for vote the D or the R. Vote Mark Warner or Jim Gilmore, Sam Rasoul or Bob Goodlatte. Take the time to get to know each candidate, what they stand for and what they believe. In order to obtain a good understanding of each candidate it is vital to read from numerous sources. Careful research and understanding biases carried by different sources is the only way to get an accurate take on specific candidates. There are many e-mails and letters circulating today pretending to inform the voter about the candidates. Numerous e-mails center on the Democratic nominee Barack Obama. They claim Barack Obama is a Muslim, and he attended a Wahabi school in Indonesia. The rumors go on and on, and for the most part, they hold no validity whatsoever. A bit of careful research would show these claims to be nothing but an attempt to smear the name of Barack Obama. The sad reality is that many people read these e-mails and buy into the false claim. A recent Newsweek poll shows approximately 12 percent of Americans still believe that Barack Obama is a Muslim. This is a depressing statistic and shows the type of derogatory, attack politics that have become commonplace in America today. We smear the candidates and play off of the lack of awareness and the fears of individuals. Too often the focus is not on the policies and the candidate, but on rumors and fabrications meant to confuse and distort one's opinions on a specific candidate. In a political era centered around sound bytes taken out of context, junk e-mails carrying only half truths, and overly energetic bloggers writing whatever they feel, it is hard to know what to believe. It is imperative to sift through all the rumors and lies, and find the truth about political candidates. Voting responsibly doesn't simply mean just going out and voting. It means understanding what it is you are voting for.

Seth Lovell