VOTING CAN BE TORTUOUS, AGONIZING

THE RIGHT TO VOTE IS PRECIOUS BUT IT ALSO IS DIFFICULT WHEN PICKING THE RIGHT CANDIDATE

I have not missed exercising my given privilege as an American citizen: THE RIGHT TO VOTE. It is one very significant gift that we in America have as members of a supposedly participatory democracy.

However, every time I go to vote I agonize over the choices. It is not whether I am going to vote for one party or another…at this point and time in my life I would not give my vote to any Republican because I have enough reason to believe that the GOP is the party that includes those elements that are diametrically opposed to everything that I am and I believe in.

My dilemma comes when I see a roll of names that I have never heard before, mostly running for judges’ positions and there is no demarcation as to their political affiliation. Add to this the city where I live specifically prohibits anyone running for office to list the political party they are affiliated with. This makes it very difficult for me because I am so intimidated by the prospect of voting for somebody who is going to affect me and my community negatively. I am thinking that I could possibly vote for a right-wing ideologue that is going to sit on the bench and affect the existing laws and apply the law in a biased way.

I am thinking of some Supreme Court Justices like Thomas, Alito and Roberts. It is clear to me that they don’t really care about the Constitution as much as they care to push their conservative agenda. We saw it in the ruling that gave us one of the worst Presidents we ever had: George W. Bush in 2000.

For this reason, I would very much like to have some organization like the Human Rights Campaign or MoveOn.Org to publish a list of candidates, local, state and Federal with their political affiliation. Perhaps they could also include a rating of some kind as to their views on human rights or other important issues. I like to clarify this, no, I am not asking these organizations to tell me how to vote. What I am proposing is that they provide a service that is badly needed. I will take over from there and make my own decisions based on my experiences and my knowledge as well as giving their recommendations some weight.

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