It's YOUR responsibility!

Here we go again. It's fall. Know what that means? Time to vote! Here in Washington State, we have many initiative from which to choose as to how to vote on them. We have Tim Eyeman's latest tax cutting/government responsibility initiative, I-900. We also have I-330 and I-336 from which to decide upon. But, what do we really know about these? Am I going to declare one way or the other from which you should vote? Nope. It's up to you to make the choice. However, what I will say is that we all have the right to vote. Sure, many of us get bogged down with the negative political ads, as well as the often times confusing the way each side seems to bicker. However, it is up to us, as voters, to wade through this crap and come to some kind of conclusion regarind it.

Many voters will simply say "screw it" and just not vote at all. They may feel that it is something they're not informed enough on, it may be something that they are so confused by that they may not wish to vote, or, perhaps they don't like the choices before them. What I will argue is that it is our responsibility to become informed and to come to some decision regarding these issues. Walter Kronkite recently said that the voters simply are not informed enough in this day and age and the fact that people were still voting was a very dangerous thing. Of course however, Mr. Kronkite was referring to why Conservatives control both the House, the Senate and the Presidency. Conservatives are getting elected, so therefore, the voters are just not informed enough. THe premise being, of course, that if you find yourself voting Conservative, then you obviously are not informed. Because, if you were informed, you'd be voting Democrat I suppose.

In any case though, it is our responsibility to become informed to the best of our ability. Most everyone in Washington State will get a Voter's Pamphlet. This will give you the low down on what you need to do to make an informed decision as to what to do. Now, if afte reading the voters pamphlet, you'd like to find out more information, then, that is up to you to do so. However, we should never be so content as to simply not seek out information or not vote. The founding fathers went to great length to ensure that people had the right to vote. Initially, it was only to rich land owners. Then, eventually more people were given the right to vote. We were given this right, we should be taken advantage of it. When, in modern times, we often times have up to half of the population not even voting, it's a sad state of affairs. The same people who refuse to vote, are the same ones who cry moan and whine about the state of affairs either locally, at the state level or federally.

We need to get off our "cryin'" box and start voting. "I'm not informed" is not an excuse any longer. We need to start taking responsibility for our rights that we were given, as well as the rights that our military fight for daily for us. We have available to us, a minimal source of information in the form of the voters pamphlet which is sent to everyone that has a mailbox. So, we now should have no excuses. Pick it up, and, read it. Find out some information for yourself and become informed. Take notes if you have to, there's nothing wrong with that! If you take away one thing from this week's column, may it be this: If you don't vote, you've no right to complain about the way things are!