See you at the polls

It's all over the television, all over the radio, all over the newspapers, all over the billboards, all over the internet and littered across yards everywhere you look.

I realize that just a few short years ago my name was on some of those signs and ads, but please don't call me a hypocrite. At least back then we had some choices.

In my opinion, good choices in 2012 are hard to find. In fact, I think this election may well be the worst I've seen in all my years of voting when it comes to clear choices. Everything is too muddled; there seem to be no hard lines or well-defined boundaries.

I usually vote my conscious. In doing so I feel I have, at the very least, some modicum of guidance. But this year it seems harder than ever just vote the issues. Why? Because all of the candidates seem to be espousing whatever they think will get votes from this faction or that faction, from this segment of society or that segment of society.

I find it hard to believe there is that much in common between the parties and their respective candidates. I think maybe they are just getting better at playing the game; better at being chameleons when trying to glean votes from the masses, better at being quick-change artists.

"Look," they shout at gatherings and on the tube and across the airwaves and the world-wide web. "I like you. I am like you. I share your values. I am concerned about the things you are concerned about."

In reality, most of them wouldn't know need if it walked up and bit them in their collective posteriors. Many of them can't understand the middle class because they have no reference point. They don't understand the voters, because they've generally never been where the majority of us live -- economically or socially. So they make promises they cannot keep, or choose not to keep.

"I will make things better for you," they declare. "Your vote for me is a vote for yourself and your loved ones. I promise here and now that you will be better off in four years than you are right now. Your vote for me will mean a brighter future for you kids and grandkids and your parents and your dog and your neighbor's dog. Vote for me and I will guarantee your personal safety during the fast-approaching Zombie Apocalypse!"

They announce loudly: "A vote for me will propel our economy into a magnificent tomorrow that will not only help to restore our nation to a place of world prominence, but one that will also make your car run better while reducing our dependence on foreign energy and decreasing emissions and slowing the progress of global warming while strengthening our relationships with the international community and rebuilding the industrial might of our nation."

And that doesn't include the national candidates.

Oh well, as a friend of mine who was an office holder used to say, "Vote early and vote often!"

See you at the polls.