Regardless Of How You Feel About Politics

[HipsterDufus]

Published the week of 2006-11-01

You get what you vote for

Question is, is it what you want?

Zachary Stout

With an upcoming election, many people are concerned with who will win the governor’s office for the next four years. Whether Jennifer Granholm or Dick DeVos wins, the situation with the state is very unlikely to change.

Why is this you might ask? The reason is, people focus too much on the person who is in the executive office, and don’t focus on the other third of the system. The legislative branch has as much if not more impact on how the state and the country are governed.

Part of the blame for the current state of the state can certainly be put at the feet of Granholm, but what about the 148 members of either the state Senate or House of Representatives?

How many people pay attention to some of the bills passed? Bills like the ones sponsored by Rep. Gleason (D, MI-48) or State Senator Toy (R, MI-6), which rename certain highways in Michigan.

There are numerous bills like those that were voted on this year instead of more bills like the one put forth by Rep. Zelenko (D, MI-50) which requires a criminal background check before awarding a healthcare professional license.

The Michigan legislature is not the only one where nonsense laws are passed. The “bridge to nowhere,” sponsored by Rep. Young (R-AK) that will cost over $300 million stands as an example.

Instead of voting on issues like national defense, social security or the public health care crisis, you have your elected officials voting to pass amendments renaming French fries to “Freedom Fries.” Yet every place that these pork barrel laws are passed, you’ll find that the leader of the executive branch gets the complaints and bonuses.

Rather than blame those on top, why don’t we take the week left before this election to do a little research and vote according to the way we want our government to be ran.

Don’t think that voting to change those on top will necessarily change how things are getting done in government. In Michigan, that means research into what has been done by local representatives and also what proposals have been blocked by the same legislature.

Of course, this rule should be applied to not just the state Congress, but to the national Congress as well. All of the blame cannot be applied just to President Bush, but must also be applied to all of the senators and representatives.

When it comes to the election next Tuesday, make sure you have done your research before voting for all of those lower offices.

If you want a change in the way things are done, don’t just worry about those on top, but also those that are just below.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Yep good point. I'm not sure how to enact it but i would like to see some sort of mandated involvement in politics. The framework within we live exists because of the political structure, some level of involvement from virtually everyone should be i think almost an honor-bound duty.

If we legislate a rule that requires more political debate on TV people will just change the channel.

People are too much in a entertainment industry induced mind-fog to care about what is going on in the world.

Im not sure how to do it , but we should do something. One start might be some sort of propaganda class required by all students that teaches the honorable nature of being involved in politics. Most get their "political education" from the endless stream of negative reporting. The bias of the media toward the neagative is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

[sass_in_the_pants]

If you don't vote in Brazil, your driver's license (which, like here, also acts as an identification in all sorts of situations) is revoked. Now, THAT gets the vote out.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

If you don't vote in Brazil, your driver's license (which, like here, also acts as an identification in all sorts of situations) is revoked. Now, THAT gets the vote out.

Wow. Thats pretty brazen. Probably would piss way to many people off. But hell we dont have to be wishy-washy punks ALL the time. I support propsal no 1.

Reall though, long term getting a politically educated and involved public would be long term the best thing we could hope for. Far more important than the day-to-day crap.