I want public officials to tell me why I should vote for them
- Bryan Schaaf
- May 4, 2018
- 1765
Taking into consideration that I’m really not good with dates, calendars or really anything that requires planning beyond the next 24 hours, my best estimation is that this newspaper column should hit your eyes on May 7. That is, if I’m not mistaken, one day before the Ohio primary.
And that’s a shame, really, because my purpose is not necessarily to write this in hopes of influencing anyone’s vote. My intentions merely are to express my disdain and my disappointment at the nature of political ads meant to mislead and influence based on half-truths, not just leading up to this particular election, but also each and every election for which I’ve been part of.
This particularly comes top of mind when looking at the Republican primary race for governor of Ohio.
In my career I’ve been fortunate to meet both Mike DeWine and Mary Taylor. Both, at least to me, came across as good, decent, genuine people. Both, without going into details about any political voting records from the past, seem to pass my initial requirement of being decent humans.
But for the past month each time I turn on my radio I’m bombarded with radio ads from Taylor, painting DeWine as a backer of past policies and politicians who were, at the very least, less than conservative.
And once that ends, I’m hit with ads from DeWine, accusing Taylor of misusing public funds to help her family business and making misleading allegations about her political opponent.
How much of this is true? I don’t know. And truly I’m at the point that I just don’t care.
As a member of the voting public, I’m writing this with hope that it will be shared for years to come.
I’m choosing to vote for neither.
As a culture our prospective politicians now pour so much time, money and resources into telling us why we shouldn’t vote for their opponent that I’ve officially grown sick of it. I’m tired of having to take time to carve through the nonsense of misleading political ads to decide what’s false, what’s misrepresented and what may actually be true.
As far as I’m concerned, it’s all bunk.
Instead, I want my public officials to tell me why I should vote for them. I want them to treat their opponents with respect and honesty. I want them to take the higher road in the election process because after all that’s the same road they should be expected to follow once in office.
In 2007 I left a job as a sports writer to become a business-government-politics writer at a newspaper. Quickly I found out that politics is much more of a blood sport than any athletic event I’d ever witnessed.
So this election season and every election forthcoming, I’m choosing to support the candidate who conducts their business in the same manner the rest of us outside of politics do: with honesty, kindness and genuine regard for the people around them.
Anything less is not acceptable.
Surely there must be someone out there worth voting for.