Be wary of those political ads

With the glut of political advertising out there, I have one message for the people of Marion County: Do your research and don?t believe everything you hear or see.

It doesn?t matter which side you vote with typically, the truth is, both sides play dirty this time of the year and neither is showing all their cards.

They want to make sure to show someone?s personal flaws rather than focus on the issues in Topeka or Washington and they will get caught talking about trivial issues while ignoring real ones.

This is all in an effort to trick the voter. If you think ?Candidate A? is a bad person for thinking a certain way, you might not pay attention to ?Candidate B? and his penchant for voting against things that matter to your community.

Both sides are just as bad as the other in this game of trickery, and it has the political landscape looking rough.

Local elections are almost never caught up in this type of thing, and I contend the reason for that is the lack of a letter next to those candidates names. It?s something I love dearly about local elections.

Nine out of 10 times, in a local election, the issues are actually discussed and voters care more about voting history and what is coming out of a candidate?s mouth than a letter next to their name signaling their party affiliation.

I am lost for how to make state and national elections pay attention to the issues. Instead, I am a big advocate of digging in and doing the research on candidates before checking a box next to a person?s name.

Get educated.

Observe what is really going on in your community, state and country. Look at the issues that matter to you and your town, and how that candidate will affect those issues.

Why listen to those propaganda ads when you can look and find the truth?

Look at multiple sources when listening to the issues. Listen to what the candidates actually say when they answer questions. Do you agree?

Look at those seeking re-election and ask yourself if they have made our state a better place.

Ask yourself if they are serving the public or just their friends and donors.

For those who are running against an incumbent, look to see if they present any viable solutions for the problems you see.

Can that candidate earn your vote by putting your community and our state in a better position moving forward?

These are the questions we used to ask as a nation. We used to pay attention. If the men and women who fought to make our country awesome and free were to see the state of the current political climate they would surely be ill.

We are better than this.

I am not advocating you vote for one person or the other in the upcoming election. The only thing I ask is that you do some research and know who you are voting for in the upcoming election and why.

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