Apathy is Killing Us

Apathy is going to be the death of our country as we know it. I was asked twice in the last week, why I, peskily, continue to 'fight, the good fight'. Many people find my blog and FaceBook posts an annoyance. Many people prefer to think only 'happy thoughts, unicorns and rainbows', instead of paying attention to the world around them. They only do that when something 'bad' happens to them and then they scream blue murder.

Back in 2010, here in Ohio, we had an election for governor. The candidates were the then GovernorTed Strickland(D) and John Kasich(R). Gov. Strickland saw us through the economic debacle and was working very hard to repair the damage done to our state by former Governor, Robert Taft (R). One such scam, was called 'Coingate', it was an investment scandal revealed in early 2005, in part by the Toledo Blade newspaper. The Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation invested hundreds of millions of dollars in high risk or uncinventoional investment properties run by people closely connected to the Ohio Republican Party. who had made many large contributions to many senior Republican party officials. A rare coin investment fund had attracted particular scrutiny after it reported that two coins worth more than $300,000 had been lost. Further investigation revealed that coins worth $10-$20 Million were missing and that only $13 Million of the original $50 Million invested could be accounted for. Tom Noe was convicted of running a criminal enterprise, the theft of $13 Million from the fund, and of keeping a second set of books to cover for it. Added to the effects of 'Coingate' were the collapse of the housing industry, the loss of jobs and the general 'collapse' of the U.S economy. Ohio was in deep trouble and slowly but surely, Ted Strickland was pulling Ohio up by by it's 'bootstraps' and life was improving for our citizens. Unfortunately, Governor Strickland wasn't making the recovery happen fast enough for many of the Ohio voters. John Kasich was one of the olriginal Tea Party candidates who ran on a platform of severe austerity. He promised to get the slackers off of welfare, to cut back severely on 'entitlements' and to trim the fat off the government payroll by severely cutting the rolls of public workers and their pension fund. He promised to cut taxes to businesses so they could become 'job makers' and he planned on cutting taxes. He preached to the electorate that, by making all these cuts, Ohio and it's people would come out on top of the national recovery effort. Because it was a mid-term election, the Republican/Tea Party folks got out the voters while the Democrats sat on their hands. Within two weeks of his election, John Kasich had moved with lightening speed to enact his promises. It was at this point that the apathetic woke up. Every day, there was something else to cry about: police and fireman lost their jobs, unions were told that they could either accept the terms that the Governor set forth or they would no longer exist, teachers were fired, classrooms enlarged, pensions raided, he cut food stamps, medicaid and other entitlement spending, he cut business taxes and income taxes for those who had an income over $200K. So many people acted as if they had never heard John Kasich make all his campaign promises and, truth be told, they didn't. Apathy had reared its' ugly head!

The BIG problem, is the people who believe their votes don't matter so they don't cast their ballots. They are inundated with campaign commercial after campaign commercial which causes them to grow numb at the prospect of listening. If everyone who believed their vote was useless, voted and voted responsibly, our country would be in a very different situation right now. The only reason the Republicans are in power now, is because they vote. For example, in the last election, less than 50% of eligible voters actually voted. The Republicans only won 30% of those votes. If only another 15% of eligible voters cast their ballots for Democrats, Capital Hill would have a completely different look. The first step to change is begun by listening to the candidates, questioning the viability and reality of their proposals and the effect it will have on the constituents. The road to responsible government begins with a single vote!

As for me, I will continue to post what I believe is necessary, to spread the reality of promises made. I will share the backstory of proposals and the truth about where these proposals will take us if they are followed through with. I will continue to research and pull apart every argument that is made under the guise of being what is 'good' and/or 'right' for the country. In other words, I will continue to be a pain in the ass until apathy is no longer and we get upward of 75% of voters casting ballots in coming elections.

#apathy #voter