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I have grown increasingly annoyed with the campaign advertisements being approved by both candidates. I guess the American public has come to accept the fact that our leaders may lie or exaggerate the truth. After all, an exaggerated truth is still just a lie. It is not acceptable for the potential President of the United States to knowingly make false claims for political gain to the U.S. citizens in which they intend to lead. This is not a quality of a good leader. When a candidate promotes a public message, I should not have to watch these messages with a great sense of skepticism, wondering which parts are true and which parts are false. I should not have to wait and tune into CNN to see just how misleading the new campaign ad is. Not all U.S. citizens are going to seek out a fact check and this creates a problem when voters go to the booth. A voter may take some of these false ads as fact, and these false ads may replay in a voter’s head at the voting booth. I have had some people tell me things about a candidate’s policies that are completely inaccurate as a result of these advertisements. I believe that before a candidate is allowed to release a campaign ad, it should go through a third party fact checking source to be approved. The American public should not just accept the fact that candidates lie and believe we should just get used to that fact. If there is room to decrease the misleading information from the candidates, it should be taken advantage of.

700 billion dollars...700 billion problems

I would like to believe that with most issues facing our country, people do not take a stance on an issue and project their opinions about an issue by just looking at the particular issue on the surface. Of course, this is just something I would like to believe. A picture is worth a thousand words and unless a person learns of the specifics in a picture then they are ultimately subjected to speculation or making conjectures. Thus, their opinions on the picture are shaped by little to no fact which in turn is a problem when you apply this scenario to serious political issues. A person’s initial thought of a picture or painting are shaped by predisposition, by a person’s character, or even by the social structure a person lives in. A person who learns the location of the scenery in the picture, the relationship of the people in the picture, or even the time of year the picture was taken will have a more sound and informed opinion. It is more likely that they may have a completely different opinion altogether. If asked about the war, it is easy to say, “I want to win the war in Iraq”, without understanding why a person may not support it. On the surface, the issue may seem like a simple win or lose scenario, but it is not. The issue is much more complex and cannot solely be looked at as a win or lose situation.
Now, we have an economic crisis facing our country and a questionable resolution that many people are throwing their opinions at. The root of the problem has outraged many Americans and the possible solution has outraged many of us even more. On the surface, the proposed solution is asking tax payers to spend money on bailing out Wall Street. This seems absurd. Why should I have to spend my money on a bunch of greedy people on Wall Street who got themselves into the mess they are currently in? Let me rephrase that, “…greedy people on Wall Street that got US into the mess WE are currently in.” Yes, a bailout sounds terrible and I was strongly opposed to it at first, but that is because I did not learn the specifics of the proposal. I am still somewhat opposed to it but I did not understand just how much was at stake and the possible effect this would have on America. Before a person chooses to openly oppose the proposal they should at least understand all of its components, because the potential result of no immediate action by our leaders can cause the situation to get worse. I understand the bill is flawed, it does put this burden completely on the taxpayers and that is why I cannot completely support it, but, I have yet to see an alternative solution.
I now understand why both candidates support the bill and some of it is out of fear that the country could end up facing a long and painful recession. Obviously, their support for the bill is not an easy stance to take but it is not taken with hopes of destroying the economy. I strongly encourage people to at least inform themselves on all sides of an issue. Partisan politics divide the country and bipartisanship is essential for uniting the country. A person should choose to be more informed about an issue before they declare a strong opinion and then demonize those who think differently. Being able to at least understand the reasoning behind a person’s beliefs will help increase bipartisanship and help eliminate the strong negative opinions based on little to no facts. When people refuse to learn more about an issue the person's opinions of those who believe the opposite can often be negative. Eventually, these negative opinions become the negative stereotypes that we have given to both parties today.

The less significant issues

There were many occasions when voters I spoke to would passionately voice their opinions about the candidates. I always found what they said to be pretty interesting but I noticed that many people were being overly concerned about the wrong things more than the major issues. For example, people would be too worried about Obama wearing a flag pin or how many words McCain would slip up on. These things may be worth taking into consideration but ultimately, the important thing is what these candidates plan to do for the American people. Some voters are actually questioning these candidates patriotism. It does not make sense to ever question a possible president’s patriotism. One does not run for the President of the United States without having a great sense of patriotism. Both candidates are outstanding individuals who have had to overcome many hardships to get to where they are now. Personality and charisma is somewhat important but personality and charisma are not going to affect the people’s everyday lives. These things should not be what a voter solely makes his or her decisions on. There were people I encountered that had no idea what their candidate’s positions on the major issues are. Many told me that the reason they were voting for one was because the other looked a certain way or the other one was just boring. These are issues that are not going to directly affect a person’s life and frankly, those reasons are ridiculous. I can understand that candidates do questionable things at times, but in the end it is better to put the serious issues first and just keep the other less significant things in mind.

P.S. happy birthday to me ;)

The "other" elections

While working with the Colorado Democratic Party, I did not just campaign for the presidential elections. I also had the opportunity to campaign for the Senatorial and Congressional races as well. I was quite surprised to discover the lack of interest and knowledge in the Senate races by many of the voters. Considering the hype for the presidential candidates, it is possible that voters are so caught up in the events pertaining to the presidential elections that they are not paying much attention to the candidates in the other races. In many of our campaign events, I spent a lot of time reminding voters why the Senate elections are so important. Both candidates intend to make a large amount of changes, but they need the majority of support in the Senate to really bring about these changes. It is important that voters do not overlook the Senate races because if they want their candidate to be as effective as they may hope for him or her to be, they must help their candidate get the majority of support in the Senate.

Keeping an open mind

After my first few days working with the Democratic Party, I was given quite a few responsibilities. Some of these responsibilities included attending house district meetings, coordinating events, and meeting individually with precinct committee members and precinct captains. I was assigned to a house district and was in charge of organizing events as well as collaborating with various people in the district. In some of these events, I had the opportunity of canvassing, which is going door to door and speaking to people about the elections. While some of these canvassing events can be quite interesting, some of them can be quite terrifying as well. The interesting part is that I noticed many voters in this district were not properly informed on the issues. Many people hold a firm stance on a certain issue without exploring all the facts of the issue they support and the issue they oppose. I find it difficult to have a complete partisan mentality on numerous issues because most issues are nonlinear. It is important for voters to know exactly what they oppose and to know the pros and cons of what they support. I may not agree with a candidate on an issue but after studying their point of view, I can at least understand why they chose to hold that particular stance. This enables citizens to make more informed decisions when voting and can also decrease many contentious conversations. Now, the more terrifying part of canvassing is speaking to voters who have immensely strong stances on an issue without fully understanding the other side’s point of view on the issue. Many people develop strong negative feelings towards people or candidates with different viewpoints. These people are quick to get angry, yell, or may even refuse to hear anything other than what they already know. As I became better informed on the issues, I realized that there are plausible ideas on both sides and it is not sensible to talk down on others for what they believe. Much of a person’s belief may be heavily contributed from their demographics or from some other serious event in their life. Some of the voters I held conversations with learned that their previous stances on a particular issue did not completely reflect their beliefs. For example, I spoke to a handful of people who chose to dislike and reprehend a candidate for the sole fact that the candidate proposes to raise taxes. Obviously this issue is not so simple because raising taxes almost always sounds bad, but for a person to not know the reasoning behind this proposal could do him or her more harm than good. Especially, if this citizen’s main concern is improving the education system.

First thoughts with the Colorado Democratic Party

My initial thoughts on grassroots campaigning were definitely not what I expected. I soon realized that people are intensely working around the clock for this election on a level that is far beyond the average 8 hour work day. My first day started at 10 a.m. and ended at 10 p.m. It largely consisted of phone calls and preparing for events in which we do various things including voter registration. At first, calling random voters was quite nerve-racking and I found myself mumbling, stuttering, or talking extremely too fast. It did not help that I was given the list of elderly citizens to call and many of them were either hard of hearing or just angry for reasons I will never know. I always had some pretty interesting conversations with some interesting people while working on the phones. Our goal for that day was to gather all sorts of information like voter preference as well as their thoughts on the issues so that we can continue to improve the campaign as we come closer to the elections. It did not take me long to get comfortable speaking with voters because I began to understand that these conversations were not about me but about the issues and opinions of the American people. If I wanted my efforts to hold any weight in these elections, I would have to overcome my nervousness so that I can look back and know that I, indeed, contributed to these historical elections and to resolving the issues that are important to me. I will probably never quite understand why some people complain about their issues and then decide not to vote. If a person wants to make a change they have to put some effort into making that change. These changes may not always be made so just by voting but may require a few hours of volunteering. After working on the campaign, I now know that even a person who may only choose to volunteer for an hour can be extremely beneficial to any campaign. Throughout my time there, I witnessed concerned citizens volunteer daily because of the major issues in our country affecting them everyday. Whether it's healthcare, education costs, or the war, I think everyone has an issue that may directly concern them. When I think of how hard people are constantly working for all of us so that we may be better informed, more involved, and reminded that in a democracy the people have the power to change things, I believe it is a shame that people do not take advantage of their right to vote.
-Derrick A