Choose Wisely...

I’ve been a bit perplexed by this election season. I’ve decided we’re stuck in a real-life version of the 1989 film classic, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. You remember the one—the globe-trotting, action-packed search for the Holy Grail. I’m reminded of those prophetic words near the end of the film, “...choose wisely, for while the true Grail will bring you life, the false Grail will take it from you...”

These would be good words for voters to heed on November 2nd. Unfortunately, we’re caught between a false set of choices due to the political messaging that we’re bombarded with via every type of media on a 24-hour basis.

The Republican messaging, with its recent “Tea Party” flavor, is generally “All government is bad.”
The Holy Grail – Eliminate government and let the free market rein. 

The Democratic messaging, with its recent panic attack at the loss of the public popularity contest, is “Save government. It’s best for the little guy.”
The Holy Grail – Let’s keep our government operations on track.

I think the Republican Party is at its most disingenuous these days when compared to the past two decades, using those poor “Tea Party” chumps (most of whom are on Social Security and Medicare) to try to prevent government from curbing the worst of the free market abuses (I’m a free market person – and I can tell you that the ethical among us want protection from all of the unethical business entities).

I think the Democratic Party seems to be populated by fearful sycophants. They’re afraid to be the party of ‘good government’ (which is what we need) because introducing a accountability and good business practices would cause consternation among their traditional supporters.

My advice to voters: Choose wisely. Look for candidates who believe in good government – government that provides reasonable protections (regarding health, land use, safety, economics, etc.) to us all – government that is willing to apply standards, accountability, and good business practices. The candidates are out there in both parties, Republican and Democrat.  But we need to turn off the campaign advertising and look beyond the party-line messaging. If you take the time to explore each candidate’s positions and background, you should be able to choose wisely.