Scared...no, not because of Halloween

One thing that scares me is the logic some people use, or the knowledge they have, about voting. I have not seen the entire segment, but a TV show did a test to see how much voters actually know about the candidates. Part of the test was asking voters (mostly Obama supporters) what they thought of the Obama/Palin ticket. Most of the voters did not even think twice about saying, I think it is great and I think they are going to win, etc. Seriously? Obama/Palin? Could they be any further apart on the political map?

I was told by a teacher about a study done in class where they listed all of the views each candidate has on the issues, but did not name who was the candidate responsible for those views. People went around, and for the most part everyone chose the policies of John McCain (but they did not know it). The teacher then went and put up a picture of both candidates and for the most part everyone chose Barak Obama. The teacher then told everyone that the majority of the class voted for Obama based on looks and McCain based on views. The teacher’s last question was, knowing all of that, who would you vote for? The over whelming response, Obama. Why is this so scary? Well, it is scary because that class is but a mere subset of the entire voting population in the US, but I think a lot of voters vote with some of the same logic. They do not take policy and records into consideration. Some voters merely look at party affiliation, race and/or gender without giving the slightest credence to what a candidate may stand for.

That is not the only thing that scares me about the way some people choose who to vote for. Obama is a very powerful speaker and when he speaks, I must admit, he does grab my attention. But, there have been many world leaders who were powerful speakers. There have been many powerful speakers who could get the masses to follow everything he/she said. All it takes is the right political climate and a leader who speaks powerfully to make big changes…..but a lot of times those changes are not good changes. I am not saying Obama is bad person. What I am saying here is simple, people are too easily swayed by the looks and or way a person speaks. Those same people are not actually listening to a lot of the things Obama says. For example, what does the saying redistribution of wealth mean to you? To some, it means more money in my pocket without doing any more work, yippee!! To me, you might as well say you are going to “rob Peter to pay Paul.” Well, as I heard someone say not long ago, what happens when you run out of Peters? Obama speaks powerfully about redistribution of wealth and a lot of people think it sounds great. Why? Well, because he talks about it so eloquently that it must be a good thing. Well, as Lee Corso would say…..not so fast my friend.