Hi,
I just wanted to write a letter acknowledging the events that are about to take place in this country. We are about to conduct a presidential election. In my opinion the most important presidential race in my lifetime.I have very strong and passionate views about who I would like to see in the Whitehouse for the next 4 years but I’m not going to try to influence you with it. If I thought for a second that my opinion would, or for that matter, should influence you, believe me, I would try.
What I would like to do first is to encourage you to vote.It is a system that is designed to let us have a say in our own destiny, and we need to take advantage of that right.
Next I would like to urge you to do your best to try and seek out the truth. I am personally sickened by how lowbrow this country has gotten in regards to the criteria that we base the choice of our leaders on. It has become nothing more than an advertising campaign based at least as equally on rumor as on fact. We are being sold an ad campaign from both parties, no different from the way we are being convinced to chose between Pepsi and Coke.
Through the same focus group research that any other advertising company uses, it has been deduced that in a 15 to 30 second ad, it is almost impossible to register a positive message regarding a candidate but very easy to register a negative one. Pay attention to the campaign ads that you see and hear and you’ll find that if the first words you hear, are John Kerry, then it’s probably an ad for George Bush and visa versa. I am appalled that as adults we’re expected to base our opinion of the candidates on the sort of schoolyard insults we’re being force fed.
Unfortunately, our supposed “Fair and Balanced” news coverage in this country isn’t a very reliable place to get unbiased facts these days either. Most of the corporate owned newspapers and newschannels have their own agendas and cover the news with a slant that typically favors the candidate they support.
All news has the possibility of being biased or not totally correct. Even the most fair minded journalists make mistakes now and then, so we owe it to ourselves to seek out the truth from multiple, credible sources. I think that PBS is good place to start. You can listen to BBC news on NPR, or get to many international newspapers from a google search. If we get our news through a number of different sources maybe the facts will begin to emerge.
We also owe it to ourselves to watch the Presidential and Vice Presidential debates. This is our best chance to really hear what the candidates have to say. Hopefully, most of us will being paying attention to whether they have an intelligent grasp of the issues and a logical, thought out plan of how best to approach them over the next 4 years. Not on whether we like their smile, hairstyle, or how their suit fits.
So please, just be as well informed as possible, form your own opinions, and VOTE on November 2nd.
Thanks,
