Please, just tell us where you stand on the issues

by: Anthony Gaenzle

Election day is finally here. I, for one, have been eagerly awaiting this day for months.

I have been on the edge of my seat, eager for for November 2nd to arrive.

Did I vote? Well, that's another matter.

What I was so excited for was not the chance to make a difference, but the chance to watch television without having to witness some political candidate bashing their opponent.

Smear campaigns have been around since the times of Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall, but never have they been so blatant.

Candidates don't even feign an attempt to have a plan or a stance on any of the issues. Instead, they simply hire a camera crew and a writer and tear into the soul of the opposing governmental hopeful.

I have always been a proponent of getting out to the polls and having your voice heard, but the relentless slew of trash talking on television recently, has left me bitter and disenfranchised.

If I saw those beady eyes on Rick Scott's face, or that ever present, slick, little grin on Alex Sink's mug one more time, I think I may have turned off my television forever. (Which may actually have been a blessing in disguise.)

Tonight citizens of Florida gathered at their local polling places, eager to make a difference, most with absolutely no clue about the candidate's intentions, for whom they were about to vote.

We no longer look at the issues. We simply choose sides, put on a blind fold, and vote straight Republican or straight Democrat.

Whether you agree with a party's core principles or not, you still need to do some research. Just because a candidate is on your team by name, it doesn't make them a good team-mate.

I drove passed several polling places tonight, with the intention of stopping to observe or maybe even vote, but I could not bring myself to park the car.

I refused to subject myself to the tortures of watching people, clueless people, blindly show their allegiance to someone they knew noting about.

Granted, there are many politically savvy individuals out there. I do not claim to be one of those savvy individuals myself, but at least I did the country a favor and stayed home, rather than closing my eyes and tossing some votes around carelessly.

We (Myself included) need to make a change. We need to stand up for ourselves and stop acting like mindless drones. Until that happens, we will consistently elect the same types of individuals who are bringing this country to the ground, one clueless idiot at a time.