To vote or not to vote...Is that the question????

   With only one exception, I have voted in every election since I was eligible to vote many years ago. This was the lesson taught in school.... the importance of voting, civic responsibility and service and for most of my life I took this teaching to heart. But for some reason, this year I am not so sure and have some real doubts.

   In the past, the months leading up to an election were exciting. Candidates would focus, not on the failures of opponents, but on the issues and ideas important to them. There was a civility and respect shown for those seeking elected office. But in recent years that civility has been replaced with character assassination, negative advertising and the infusion of millions of dollars to either support a candidate or destroy an opponent.

   What has been upsetting this year are the number of phone calls and surveys. As early as July the phone has rung on a fairly regular basis, either from one party or another or from one of the many groups supporting or not supporting an issue on the ballot.

   I thought I had the system figured out. Answer the phone, don't say anything and then hang up. That worked for most. What happened the other evening, however, was that the same number appeared on my caller ID 4 times within a two hour period. On call number 4, I redialed the number only to hear that the number could not accept incoming calls. Hmm!!!!

   For a short period of time this past Spring I had considered running for a seat in the legislature. Within several weeks I was contacted by party officials and given a primer course in what I needed to do, who I needed to see and what I needed to say. There was one problem. I consider myself to be a fairly independent thinker and “independents” don't do very well in today's government. If you are an “independent” in Augusta, you get a chair and a desk in the hallway or a spot in the back of the maintenance closet. And committee assignments? Forget that! So much for “yankee independence”. Nope...I decided not to run!

   What has disturbed me the most about this year's election, the one at the federal level, is the amount of money that is being spent. We are not talking about thousands of dollars any more, not even millions, but billions of dollars. Who says the economy is in rough shape. If there is that kind money available to put toward an election, imagine what a few of those dollars could do to build new schools or give to research for cancer cures or fight domestic abuse and violence. With billions of dollars being invested in the election, someone must be making money.

   Every few years there are calls for election reform and I suspect that after this year's election we may hear the battle cry again, especially if the 'right' candidates don't get elected. To get a head start, here is my partial list of ' 'reforms'.

  There should be a cap on the amount of money each candidate can spend. PAC money is no longer allowed. Any PAC that wishes to support a candidate can do so through a charity or cause of the candidate's choice, such as giving to cancer research. No campaigning before August 1 of the election year and all campaigning ends one week before election day so that candidates have time to spend time to get reacquainted with their families.

   Election day is just a few days away, and yes, I will vote as I have always done. But for those pollsters who are reading this....please do not call me and ask who I will be receiving my vote. I will be taking the phone off the hook until November 7^th !