It’s election time again. We’re all getting more than just a little tired of the TV commercials and billboards and mailers, and various ads. People moan and declare that they’re all crooks or that they have their own ego-driven agendas. Some decide that it doesn’t really matter who we elect and some even decide that their vote is useless, so why take the effort to vote?

I’ll tell you why. Until we take this civic duty more seriously, we will continue to get mediocre elected officials. And yes, sometimes they really mess up once they’re elected. However, some work really hard to represent us.

Didn’t your mother ever tell you that you can choose to live up to or down to expectations? There’s a lot of truth in that. Let’s set the bar higher! How?

We, the citizens of this great country, need to take the time and energy to actually seek out information on the candidates seeking our votes. Read their literature, read news stories, go to a few candidate forums to listen to them talk, and talk to others that are equally interested in pursuing such information. Listening to TV ads, especially the negative ones, is NOT a news source.

Don’t vote for them because they’re cute, or because they belong to a particular political party, or because some columnist or newspaper endorsed them. Vote for them because you know how they stand on important issues.

Your civic duty shouldn’t stop there. Follow that elected candidate’s progress to see how he/she does and learn how they vote on specific issues. Write them letters when you approve and write them letters when you don’t. They need to know how the citizens feel about issues.

It’s easy as 1-2-3-4.

1. Educate yourself on the candidates.

2. Go vote.

3. Follow the winners’ decisions and let them know how they’re doing.

4. Return to the ballot box to vote for or against them the next time around.