Things to ponder, May 13
From the windmill of my mind … I’m not impressed by political advertisements featuring a candidate’s spouse, or children or a so-called important person who’s throwing his or her weight behind that candidate. I’d much rather hear about what the candidate is pledging to do, instead of getting some warm and fuzzy “Let me tell you, he’s a great guy” message.
Election Day is just around the corner. Soon it will all be over, and we’ll see if the people of Fayette, Greene and Washington counties really want change, particularly in Harrisburg. Now’s your chance. Remember to take it.
Give yourself a little extra time to vote, especially in Fayette, where you’re going to have to use a new electronic voting machine. It’s fairly simple to use, but as with anything new, it will take some getting used to. That will come with practice. But for now take a little time to familiarize yourself with the process ahead of time. Ask questions at the polling place if you have to. The official poll workers are there to help.
If Fayette County is “one the move,” as some candidates suggest, then the question that begs answering is, “Why?” As I see it, the county has moved forward because the good-old-boy network is slowly getting busted up, people are better informed (mostly through the newspaper) and thus have higher expectations, and it’s not as easy to keep people in the dark as it once was. When I was a reporter, two basic questions usually did the trick:”What are the rules in this situation?” and “Were they followed?” If the second answer was “No,” it usually resulted in a pretty good story.
As you can probably tell by reading these opinion pages, some people are taking shots at me and/or my writing ability, because they don’t like some things I’ve written about. That goes with the territory, as all journalists quickly discover. Some of it’s downright hilarious, though – like the people who chastise my knowledge of grammar because of a comment I attributed to Gilligan in a satire column. That TV character didn’t speak the Queen’s English, you know.
If I’m electing a state representative, I don’t want someone who simply says they’re “for the people.” I want to know what they’ve done toward that end.