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Your Views: Judge candidates carefully before casting your vote
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It's time to evaluate the condition our country is in and time to seriously look at the people we are going to trust to manage our country. It is also time to look deeply into the mirror that reflects the person doing the voting, namely you and I. Think and think deeply!

A vote is a pretty fragile weapon. With conviction and intelligence backing it up, it can clean out a situation better than a mortar. With ignorance and indifference standing by it can snafu the works.

But is a vote a vote? The answer is no; there are too many half truths and outright lies being presented as fact. People who don't check out facts are not really voting, they are guessing. They are participating in a popularity contest.

Candidates who base their campaign on their opponents' actions instead of announcing their approach to problems aren't worth listening to. Only people who do nothing don't make mistakes, but they must be willing to say "I was wrong."

"The buck stops here" is another cop-out quote. If they don't tell you what they are gong to do, how can you judge them? Again, if they make a promise, make sure they are held to the fulfillment of said promise.

Politics are a game. Learn to play it or you won't get your $200 for passing go.

If what you see is cause for consternation or just plain bad, then get out with your educated vote because that is the remedy.

Elitists, ideologues and know-it-alls are not good candidates. I don't know who evaluated the resumes of candidates, but they are doing a lousy job.

Unqualified, "yes" persons do not make good candidates.
So who is a good candidate? An honest person who is educated to the task and is objective, that's who.

George Koesters
Gainesville