Tag Archives: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Register to Vote

NOW! Some states make it easy, some deceptively difficult so I have all my materials at hand and will stop by first thing in the morning and apply in person after trying to do so by mail and not trusting the process. This is a contentious state and they are making me sign that I don’t intend to move! Hey, if my husband is laid off or finds a better job in a new city of course we’ll move. I don’t see that happening, but what a crazy question to answer in a rust belt state.

If you’re a steelworker or work in our local breweries or paper mills, if you’re laid off will you move where you can get another job to feed your family? Heck, yeah. So why, when registering to vote, do you have to promise not to move? Because of carpetbagger politicians coming in and taking away votes from the locals. Think Kennedy, 1960 election. Think Bobby Kennedy planning for 1968 when he moved to NYC to become senator. And they were assassinated. Don’t want that.

These rules should not apply to everyday citizens who have no thoughts to move in a year or two or five or fifty. There is no enforcement. If I vote and leave five years from now how can you come after me and say I reneged on my promise?

Anyhoo, as my dear aunt would say, please register to vote. Your voice must be heard. I’m going to HQ tomorrow morning and submitting all my information so that I’ll be able to go to whatever polling place they assign me (I’m new here) and vote. Thank you, in the spirit of the classic film “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Dee

Mr./Ms. Smith, Please Step Up

Rent it, or watch Mr. Smith Goes To Washington on cable tv. Forget Mr. Smith, we actually need Jimmy Stewart to bring our nation back to its roots, its citizens.

There have been too many years of lobbyists buying the lifestyles of prominent politicians, and their votes, too.

If it is a case of money, as the salaries aren’t great enough to buy a home in D.C. and keep one back home, that gap should be met, but that is not the case. Those who vie for office now can afford to finance their own campaigns, and there’s the rub. Only rich people can run for office.

No-one who has to raise the money can challenge an incumbent, and those who’ve won the position have sold out or bought the seat outright. Only the right scandal can bring one down for a well-heeled or well-funded candidate to come in.

I got out of politics over 20 years ago. Even on a  local basis there were red flags, for me, anyway. I was a policy person, or so I thought.

People think politics has to be changed at the presidential level. Please, you have to start with dog catcher and sewer guy. Better yet, start at the voters. If we demand better we’ll get better and some reformers (no party affiliation) will start shaking things up.

Oh, you big guys won’t like that. I kind of enjoy your pain, so will keep pressing you to keep our issues at the forefront because we are the voters. This is not about you getting box seats to the big game, it’s about us. It’s time to send Mr. Smith back to Washington. Check out the movie. Dee