Local Politics MATTER!!!!!

All the news focuses on the presidential race
and the vice presidential Saturday Night Live fodder,
but they don't make decisions about our local schools
or whether to put a superwalmart next to your house
or whether we protect the local views, the air we breath,
the courts that we might actually go to
and face the judge.

I just spent an hour researching the local elections
prior to voting.

My conclusion...some of the people running for local office
ARE NUTCASES.
For heaven's sake, do some research about the local folks,
so that you can cast a vote for the school board candidate
who was a teacher for 36 years,
rather than the guy who is running
"to protect the rights of childless taxpayers."

Oy. I'm highly suspicious of the fellow who says we should
vote for him because he is "a genius."

Here's what you do.
Use the internet. Look up the local elections
under the Elections 08 section of
your local newspaper's website.

Or...Google the name of the candidate
with the name of the office.

Stuff will pop up.
Interviews,
endorsements,
bizarre testimonies.

Talk to a lawyer you know and trust
and ask who they endorse for judges.

Take the time.
While the president will certainly
impact our future,
so will these local folks
whom we may never see pictured
or quoted
or portrayed in a comedy skit.

But they will sit at a table somewhere
and vote on things
that will change the way
our own small future
rolls forward.