Today’s guest blogger is Doug Weber, who writes a great column on Newsvine.
Doug Weber
When I was asked if I would be willing to put together a short piece on why I thought people should be interested in politics, my first reaction was to say no. Why? Well I didn’t think I was the right person to tell you why you should be interested.
As I thought more about it I kept coming up with various reasons that I thought people should be interested and so I decided I would try to put my thoughts together. I will have a goal of doing so in a very non-partisan way. Personally I am very conservative but I don’t have any intention of telling everyone to think like me, rather I think that if you intelligently pursue knowledge about politics you will make the right decisions.
OK, so you think you just might have an interest in politics, or perhaps you are already convinced that you DON’T want to care about politics. Are you sure? Lets talk for a moment about what it means to be interested in politics. Specifically let’s lay out what is meant in this discussion by politics. Without this knowledge we really can’t be sure we are even talking about the same thing.
When I say that you should care about politics, I mean that you should be aware of the following.
1 – Who is running for office in your local, state, and national election and where do the candidates stand on the issues. In other words, who is going to represent you at each level and where do they stand.
2 – What are the issues that are (or should) be discussed in the current elections.
3 – What are the issues that were (or should have been ) discussed in the last election and where did the winners stand on each of them..
4 – How well the elected person is addressing the issues. Regardless of whether or not you voted for them.
OK, not too big of a list but each item is important. Politics may mean more to you, or it may mean less to you, but lets keep it at this for the purposes of this discussion.
OK, so given the definition of politics, how does it effect our lives and why should you care about it? Well, it might not matter to you at all. You might be completely oblivious to the world around you and living in your own world, but if you are like most of us and work for a living and expect certain guarantees then it certainly effects you.
At the local level it can effect you in a number of ways, including property values, educational quality, local tax levels, and law enforcement. If you own your own home local politics can effect whether or not the new industrial park gets built in your back yard or not. No one else will want it and if you are the only one not paying attention (and not voting against it) guess where it will end up?
Your school board can have a large effect on the quality of the education your children get and that quality of education can directly relate to property values and rental costs in the district. Local taxes and services will be decided by who you put into office locally.
At the state level you are dealing with state taxes and services. Where is the new interstate going to be built? How much money will public transportation get (this can also be a local issue)? How much is the state going to give to corporation X to get them to come into the state bringing jobs and economic growth with them? Is that a good deal or a bad deal for the state and for you?
At the national level we deal with budget numbers that can be staggering and incomprehensible. I don’t know about you, but I want a person there that will spend my money responsibly. At the national level you deal more closely with the constitution and what the federal government should or should not be involved with.
If you don’t make your voice heard will the career politicians have your interests or their own in mind when they cast their votes? (For reference I will mention that I consider Congress and senate to be national level even tho they represent states).
OK, so what happens if you don’t care about politics as we have defined it here? Well, that is simple. If you do not care or at least pay close attention, you will have no right to complain when your taxes go up, your services disappear and your rights are gone. You will have no say whatsoever in how the issues you feel are important are handled. Lets go back and look at our list of what politics is and discuss what happens if you don’t care on each one.
1 – Who is running for office in your local, state, and national election and where do the candidates stand on the issues. In other words, who is going to represent you at each level and where do they stand.
*If you don’t know who is running and where they stand you won’t know who to vote for. Casting your vote becomes a crapshoot and the odds are with the house.
2 – What are the issues that are (or should) be discussed in the current elections.
*If you know the candidates and not the issues, you are likely going to vote based on the politics of personality and that rarely works out in your favor. You will also not have a basis to evaluate the candidates when they run for re-election next time.
3 – What are the issues that were (or should have been ) discussed in the last election and where did the winners stand on each of them..
*This speaks directly to evaluating the results of the last election. You may find that you were on the wrong side of an issue. If you don’t know the issues from the past election and how the elected candidates performed then it is very difficult to evaluate the candidates or your own position.
4 – How well the elected person is addressing the issues. Regardless of whether or not you voted for them.
*This is a biggy as well. It kind of wraps all the others together and allows you to decide if the guy you elected (regardless of whether or not you voted for them) did what they said they would and how well did it work? If you don’t know that then how will you know if the person did a good enough job to be re-elected or elected to a higher office?
So to wrap this up I think that I can distill it all down to the simple fact that I think voting is one of the most important things we can each do. If we do it right. If you are 18 years old or older and a US citizen you have the right (and I think the responsibility) to vote. If you choose to exercise this right then I think you certainly have the responsibility to do it right and how can you do it right if you don’t know the issues, the candidates and how they relate?
If you won’t take the time to do the due diligence to understand the politics involved then I truly think you should give up your right to vote. I personally hope you take a little time each day to be aware of politics and use the knowledge to make all of our lives better!
Check out Doug Weber’s column on Newsvine.
