Nov 2; Midterms

It's past midday in the Ozarks and I'm finally able to sit at the keyboard and type out a few words for my daily post. Temps are mild today (around 50, 10 for you Celcius folks) and I have a Dominican cigar and a glass of cider as I blog from my deck.

I know that many of my US friends have already cast their ballots in the midterm elections. I have not. I actually went with Chris when she cast her ballot since she'll be working on election day, but I decided that I'll join the majority (?) of Americans and cast my vote on election day.

For some time, I have been increasingly disgusted with the tone of politics in the US. There have been no positive "vote for me because..." kinds of ads; only negative, dark, and demeaning ads.

And there have been plenty of them!
I don't watch a lot of TV, but I know that they fill the airwaves. They find their way to social media feeds, are shown and analyzed on cable news channels, and television and radio organizations are making millions from airing ads from opposing candidates. The amount of money spent on political ads is obscene!
There ought to be a law that states for every dollar spent on campaign advertising, a matching dollar needs to be spent to feed the hungry, house the homeless, educate our kids, or provide healthcare to our nation's impoverished.

I would like to vote for candidates that are truly interested in solving our nation's problems rather than pointing fingers at who caused them or using them to manipulate the system for profit for themselves and their backers. Today's news feeds are filled with distractions from the issues rather than the issues themselves.
I really believe that these elections will define to the world who we are as Americans. Will we cast a vote that approves of daily lies, fear and hate, or will we say that was a mistake and we are going to fix it. I am glad there are a few Republicans that are willing to oppose the party leadership and leave the party. But it is unfortunate that there are so few.

If you have already voted -- Great!
If you haven't, I'll see you at the polls on Tuesday.

John <><