Is the presidential race the most important?
There is a very important fact in our government structure that I fear too many are forgetting.
Sure, when I was younger, the president was an all-powerful man who made all the decisions.
But that was just my perception. It stopped looking that way around the time I watched School House Rock's "I'm Just a Bill".
The fact is, the president doesn't make all the decisions. He is only a tiny portion of the people important in legislation. The American people are forgetting this.
No president can truly accomplish what he promises without strong support from Congress. The president is just one man in the 537 elected officials at the highest levels of government (435 in the house, 100 in the senate and then the president and vice president).
While choosing the next president is an important vote, it is not the most important one, in my opinion. Truthfully, it is the election of representatives and senators. No president is effective without a truly bipartisan legislature; a legislature that reflects the needs and wants of each state, who can advocate for those wishes in our national government.
We cannot afford to keep losing sight of that. Straight-ticket voting isn't as dangerous in the presidential election as it is in congressional elections. As citizens of the United States, our votes count only marginally for president. To get what we really want and need from government, our focus needs to be on these congressional elections.
We must educate ourselves on their records and campaigns, perhaps even more than the presidential candidates. We must know if their political values reflect ours.
Sure, Mitt Romney may be everything you want in a president. But if you vote straight republican, do you know who you're putting into Congress? It could be someone who opposes him. Same with Barack Obama supporters.
If you truly support your presidential candidate, you must help him (or hopefully one day her) be as effective as possible.
This does not stop at election season, either. Maintain a dialogue with your congressmen. Write letters, make phone calls. Be involved.
Don't just switch off your preferred biased media organization, run to the polling place and choose whatever party your president affiliates with.
- -- Posted by OpinionMissy on Tue, Oct 2, 2012, at 4:08 PM
- -- Posted by lilmissmelmo on Tue, Oct 2, 2012, at 4:36 PM
- -- Posted by MsMarylin on Tue, Oct 2, 2012, at 8:08 PM
- -- Posted by lilmissmelmo on Tue, Oct 2, 2012, at 8:09 PM
- -- Posted by lilmissmelmo on Tue, Oct 2, 2012, at 8:40 PM
- -- Posted by lilmissmelmo on Tue, Oct 2, 2012, at 8:55 PM
- -- Posted by KH Gal on Wed, Oct 3, 2012, at 7:32 AM
- -- Posted by Dave Thompson on Wed, Oct 3, 2012, at 11:11 AM
- -- Posted by Dave Thompson on Wed, Oct 3, 2012, at 11:49 AM
- -- Posted by Dave Thompson on Wed, Oct 3, 2012, at 12:31 PM
- -- Posted by Dave Thompson on Wed, Oct 3, 2012, at 1:55 PM
- -- Posted by Dave Thompson on Wed, Oct 3, 2012, at 4:16 PM
- -- Posted by Dave Thompson on Wed, Oct 3, 2012, at 5:11 PM
- -- Posted by lamont on Wed, Oct 3, 2012, at 6:38 PM
- -- Posted by yoB on Wed, Oct 3, 2012, at 7:53 PM
- -- Posted by twilcox1978 on Wed, Oct 3, 2012, at 8:40 PM
- -- Posted by twilcox1978 on Wed, Oct 3, 2012, at 8:58 PM
- -- Posted by MsMarylin on Wed, Oct 3, 2012, at 9:21 PM
- -- Posted by twilcox1978 on Wed, Oct 3, 2012, at 9:30 PM
- -- Posted by twilcox1978 on Wed, Oct 3, 2012, at 9:45 PM
- -- Posted by twilcox1978 on Wed, Oct 3, 2012, at 9:51 PM
- -- Posted by MsMarylin on Wed, Oct 3, 2012, at 9:58 PM
- -- Posted by MsMarylin on Wed, Oct 3, 2012, at 10:01 PM
- -- Posted by KH Gal on Thu, Oct 4, 2012, at 7:41 AM
- -- Posted by Dave Thompson on Thu, Oct 4, 2012, at 8:56 AM
- -- Posted by Second Wind on Thu, Oct 4, 2012, at 9:56 AM
- -- Posted by MsMarylin on Thu, Oct 4, 2012, at 10:23 AM
- -- Posted by wh67 on Thu, Oct 4, 2012, at 10:48 AM
- -- Posted by MsMarylin on Thu, Oct 4, 2012, at 11:34 AM
- -- Posted by twilcox1978 on Thu, Oct 4, 2012, at 1:13 PM
- -- Posted by twilcox1978 on Thu, Oct 4, 2012, at 3:10 PM
- -- Posted by twilcox1978 on Thu, Oct 4, 2012, at 11:49 PM
- -- Posted by skeeter on Fri, Oct 5, 2012, at 5:50 AM
- -- Posted by twilcox1978 on Fri, Oct 5, 2012, at 9:30 AM
- -- Posted by KH Gal on Fri, Oct 5, 2012, at 11:23 AM
- -- Posted by lilmissmelmo on Fri, Oct 5, 2012, at 1:33 PM
- -- Posted by lilmissmelmo on Sun, Oct 7, 2012, at 6:35 PM
- -- Posted by lilmissmelmo on Mon, Oct 8, 2012, at 6:19 PM
- -- Posted by twilcox1978 on Mon, Oct 8, 2012, at 9:39 PM
- -- Posted by twilcox1978 on Wed, Oct 10, 2012, at 11:36 PM
- -- Posted by twilcox1978 on Thu, Oct 11, 2012, at 12:02 AM
- -- Posted by lamont on Fri, Oct 12, 2012, at 1:51 PM
- -- Posted by lamont on Sat, Oct 13, 2012, at 1:29 AM
- -- Posted by Second Wind on Sat, Oct 13, 2012, at 8:27 AM
- -- Posted by lamont on Sat, Oct 13, 2012, at 9:23 AM
- -- Posted by MsMarylin on Sat, Oct 13, 2012, at 11:01 AM
- -- Posted by Second Wind on Sat, Oct 13, 2012, at 4:08 PM
- -- Posted by MsMarylin on Sat, Oct 13, 2012, at 6:40 PM
- -- Posted by Second Wind on Sat, Oct 13, 2012, at 7:20 PM
- -- Posted by MsMarylin on Sat, Oct 13, 2012, at 9:52 PM
- -- Posted by lamont on Sat, Oct 13, 2012, at 10:49 PM
- -- Posted by skeeter on Sun, Oct 14, 2012, at 6:21 AM
- -- Posted by MsMarylin on Sun, Oct 14, 2012, at 10:37 AM
- -- Posted by wh67 on Sun, Oct 14, 2012, at 10:55 AM
- -- Posted by MsMarylin on Sun, Oct 14, 2012, at 11:06 AM
- -- Posted by Second Wind on Sun, Oct 14, 2012, at 12:09 PM
- -- Posted by wh67 on Sun, Oct 14, 2012, at 12:20 PM
- -- Posted by MsMarylin on Sun, Oct 14, 2012, at 12:43 PM
- -- Posted by lamont on Sun, Oct 14, 2012, at 12:54 PM
- -- Posted by lamont on Sun, Oct 14, 2012, at 6:54 PM
- -- Posted by lamont on Sun, Oct 14, 2012, at 9:04 PM
- -- Posted by KH Gal on Sun, Oct 14, 2012, at 10:30 PM
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