Election Day Musings--the Small Things

note: Smarty Pants posts are my regular thoughts on current events. To read more, click "smarty pants" under "check it out" in the sidebar. 

I hit the poles this morning, and proudly sported my "I Voted" sticker to the store afterward (until it blew off my jacket somewhere in the parking lot).  Boy will I be glad to have the television campaigns and the endless phone calls to my house come to an end!

Of course, the end of the election is hardly an end at all.  Rather, it is just the beginning.  I hope like everyone that the next Administration and Congress will bring some successful creativity to the economy, energy and food policy, and international relations.  But at the same time, I hope that we don't get too comfortable letting the Washington Big Wigs forge all of our remedies for us.  Why?  Because I think that some problems (well, most really) are better tackled in our neighborhoods and communities than they are in the federal government.  The creativity on the "ground level" is more nimble, more flexible, more practical, less compromised by special interests and money, and (in my opinion) more effective.

So as I cast my votes for the Big Wigs, I couldn't help but think about all the smaller things that are truly more inspiring and interesting to me during the day-to-day.  Like micro-business (Etsy, etc.), and eating locally, and conserving/repurposing resources, and being prepared for emergencies, and building strong neighborhood connections, and caring for the poor, and spending time with our kids, and making more stuff instead of buying more stuff, and so on and so on...

Of course, federal and state policy can be Helper or Foe to these "smaller things," but in the end, they can't ruin them or make them successful.  Only we can do that.

I confess that I'm not so great at doing a lot of the things on that list.  I don't even really know my neighbors.  But I hope to improve.  And though I appreciate the value of my "civic contribution" today as I voted, my true civic contribution involves a whole lot more time, effort and heart.

What "smaller things" do you care about?  Email me your comments at shillberry@comcast.net or post them here.  And of course, if you haven't already--GO VOTE!

Election Exercise #5: Avoiding End-of-the-Stretch Election Traps

note: smarty pants posts are my routine thoughts on current events.  And even though we're all getting terribly tired of it, the elections are indeed current...

Well, I've studied my issues.  I've gotten to know my candidates (the local ones).  I've figured out where I need to vote.  And I've even tabulated my taxes.  Just one last thing before I hit the poles:  I have to dodge the cleverly laid, end-of-the-stretch, election traps.

These traps are designed to distract me, to tickle my fancy, and elicit an emotional (as opposed to rational) response.  They are as follows:

1.  Apocalyptic claims.  You've heard them before.  They are the ones that promise the END of the WORLD at the advent of so-and-so being elected. or this bill being passed, or that judge being confirmed.  Yes, I understand that people are passionate about candidates and causes, but do we really think that the immediate outcomes of this election cycle will dramatically result in civilization as we know it crashing to an end?  Given the testimony of history, I'd say it's highly unlikely.  And I'm skeptical of anyone who suggests otherwise.

2.  Hyper-partisanship.  As if we don't have enough partisanship during the year, it seems intensified during this final stretch.  Now, a dose of partisanship is good for any country--keeps democracy on its toes.  But when members of either party start publicly suggesting that all the troubles that ail us are strictly to blame on the "other guys," I start to tune out.  In government, like everything else, it takes two (or more!) to tango.

3.  Oversimplification.  In our age of 30 second sound bites, it is efficient and practical to squeeze highly complicated issues (like the demise of our economic system) into neat, finger-pointing, stump-ready packages.  Oh lament the listener who believes it is that simple!  Contrary to what we may be led to believe, politics, regardless of who's driving, never have the luxury of operating in a vacuum.  Rather, they are thrown into the jumble with everything else (like business, education, religion, and culture), and thereby Way exceed the sound bite time limit.

I, for one, will resist these attempts to persuade my voting decision, and will instead make a choice based on the information I learned from my other election exercises!  Trap endured (only 2 more weeks) and avoided!

Did I miss any traps?  Let me know what you think by emailing me at shillberry@comcast.net or commenting here.

To catch up on previous election exercises, read below:

Tabulating my Taxes

Reading my Ballot Book

Getting Ready to Vote

Election Exercise #4: Knowing My Candidates

note: smarty pants posts are my routine thoughts on current events.  And even though we're all getting terribly tired of it, the elections are indeed current....

These days it's good to be a candidate for a federal office.  Lots of media coverage, fancy commercials, interviews and sound bites and snazzy websites....  Of course, it costs a fortune, but at least the people know who you are!

When I say that I want to know my candidates this election, then, I'm not talking about those candidates.  Rather, I'm talking about the other ones--the candidates running for local councils and state seats and county posts.  The candidates who don't have money to spend on commercials and snazzy websites.  The faces I'll never see on the evening news or morning talk shows or hear on the mainstream radio.

These are the candidates that I need to research a little more.  I need to at least know their basics: their names, experience, philosophy and background.  For some of them (like my local city council members, for instance), I can't even fall back on the golden standard, the party affiliation, because affiliation isn't even listed.  So I need to know something more.  I need to do my homework.

And how?  Well, I'm finding that the local newspaper is a great place to start for coverage on local candidates.  In addition to the myriad of opinion letters that my local peers write-in to the paper regularly, there are also the "get-to-know" pieces that most papers run during an election cycle.  Plus there are the local blogs.  And the various leaflets and pamphlets that are circulating about town.

And why do I think it's important to know about these people?  Because I'm convinced that their decisions impact my life at least as much as the federal decisions do.  Plus, they are usually Way more accessible if I have questions or concerns.  And I think they--and the unglamorous offices they are running for (often while also holding down regular jobs)--balance out the rather sensationalized and expensive business of politics these days.  

And because I genuinely appreciate the sacrifice they are making, I think they deserve my informed vote, not just my absent-minded-fill-in-the-blank vote.

Share your thoughts on this up-coming election by commenting here or emailing me at shillberry@comcast.net.

Read about previous Election Exercise posts:

Election Exercise #1: Reading my Ballot Book

Election Exercise #2: Planning ahead to cast my Vote

Election Exercise #3: Tabulating my Taxes

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Election Exercise #3: Tabulating My Taxes

note: smarty pants are my regular musings on current events; thus, I'm currently writing on the current elections.  It just makes sense.

Right from the onset of this third election exercise I have to confess that it is more like extra-credit than a regular assignment.  I mean, knowing where you need to go to vote and reading about the issues seem like obvious activities.  Tabulating your taxes, on the other hand?  Well, that's a stretch.  But it's one I decided to try this time around.

I got the idea to start paying more attention to the taxes I pay awhile ago.  For some reason it occurred to me that I have absolutely no idea how much I'm actually paying in taxes during any given month.  This is probably not surprising since I usually don't know how much I'm paying for anything during the month! (I'm working on changing that...).

And then somewhere from the archives of my memory I remembered someone once say that government's greatest power is not to wage war, but to tax.  Given that idea, I started to think that it was a little crazy that the government takes my money all the time and I don't even pay attention to how much I'm giving!  Even crazier is that during an election year I'm always asked to make decisions about taxes and I've never actually counted the dollars and cents!

So this year I decided to change that.  With my new nifty online budgeting program (Mint.com), I've been using my receipts to record my "taxes" as a budget category.  And I started to look a lot closer at my utility and mortgage statements to see where I'm paying taxes there.  Incidentally, I now know approximately how much I'm spending in monthly taxes from purchases, property and utilities (it's almost $300!--imagine the clothes I could buy!).  And that, of course, does not include the Big Daddy of them all--income tax.

Now, I'm not saying that this information will prompt me to aggressively vote down all taxation--I still think taxes can be good.  But what I am saying is that making a choice about specific taxes through my vote seems kinda shortsighted if I don't know what that choice actually means to my pocketbook.  On an even larger scale (and especially with the recent passage of The Bailout), dismissing the government's ability to take my money by not actively participating in the process seems a little dangerous.  About as dangerous as choosing not to vote.

So, yes, I know that taking the time before election day to tabulate taxes seems like an activity for overachievers.  But it has definitely been an eye-opener for me.  And I feel better about my decisions regarding taxation now that I know how much money we're actually talking about.

Share your thoughts with me about taxation and this election cycle by commenting here or emailing me at shillberry@comcast.net!

For more election exercises, read the links below:

Election Exercise #1: Reading my Ballot Book

Election Exercise #2: Planning Ahead to Cast my Vote

Stay tuned tomorrow for my final "back to the basics" post, where I answer the question "did it work?"  (Catch up on Back to the Basics by clicking here!)

Election Exercise #2: Plan Ahead to Cast Your Vote

note:  smarty pants posts are my regular musings on current events; thus, I'm currently writing on the current elections.  It just makes sense.

My husband received his mail-in ballot just the other day.  After taking a sneak peak at all of the candidates and issues (let me just say--there are A TON of presidential candidates!  Who knew so many people were running?), I was reminded that now is a good time to make sure I'm ready to vote.

And by "ready to vote," I don't mean readily informed about the issues (although certainly that is important), but ready to actually cast my vote.  I don't want to get to the booths on polling day only to realize that I'm not registered to vote, or that I'm supposed to be at another location, or that I've forgotten my identification.

A lot of these potential mishaps can be avoided, I realize, if I signed up for a mail-in ballot like mine truly (then I'd only have to make sure I get it in on time).  But I personally like going to the voting centers.  I like seeing all the people and getting the "I voted" sticker, and walking into the booth.  It feels more civic to me somehow.

So, since I'm visiting the polls, here's my checklist to make sure I "get it done" on election day:

1.  Make sure that I'm registered (this is easy in my state since the DMV registers us when we renew our license).

2.  Read up on what I need to bring to the polls, like my voter registration card and ID.  Knowing me, it's probably best to put it all in my wallet now!

3.  Make sure I know where I'm going.  In my town, we aren't assigned to specific locations, so that means I just need to know the closest voting center.  If that's not the case for you, make sure you know where to go!

4.  Plan ahead for what time I'm going to vote.  Since I work from home, I have the advantage of a flexible schedule and can choose a time that is likely to be less busy.  But I have heard radio announcements reminding everyone to bring a lunch or snack and prepare to stand in line, since this year is expected to bring record turnout.

5.  Finally, have my election munchies ready.  Okay, I know this one isn't necessary, but seriously--we have snacks for the Superbowl, and this is kind of like the "Democracy Superbowl."  I think we need chips.

Bottom line: don't wait until election day to figure out the logistics for voting.  Do it now and save yourself some stress!

More Smarty Pants posts:

Election Exercise #1: Reading my Ballot Book

Smarty Pants: the Bailout

Smarty Pants on stephanieHillberry.com

Share your tips for getting ready for the elections by commenting here or emailing me at shillberry@comcast.net!  

Election Exercise #1: Reading my Ballot Book

Note: Smarty Pants posts are my routine thoughts on current events.  I call them "smarty pants" because I think we ladies can be smart about politics, economics, and the like.  And there's no better time to get smart than right now!

It finally arrived in the mail last week.  The little blue ballot book.  I'm guessing you know what I'm referring to (although perhaps yours isn't blue).  It's the book that lists all of the amendments, referendums, judge retention recommendations, etc. that will be on your local ballot this election.  It includes the language of each bill, plus a series of "pro" and "con" arguments for the issues.  For me, it is the first place I go to get informed about the ballot.

Since the ballot in my state (Colorado) is one of the longest in state history, I have a lot of reading to do (and intend to do before election day--no cramming this year!).  It is important for me to read through the book and take the time to think about my responses because:

*  in a presidential election year, it is so easy for me to forget that I'm not just voting for the Big Guy.  I'm also voting for new local taxes, state constitutional amendments, judges, local officials, state representatives, and more.

*  I won't have time to figure out what I think about these issues while standing in those little booths (as the people line up impatiently behind me), and I don't want to just arbitrarily check boxes without knowing what they represent.

*  as much as I know that the federal offices are important, I also recognize that some of the local decisions might actually be more influential on my day-to-day life.  Thus, they deserve my attention too.

*  it forces me to step out of the oversimplified-soapbox-and-sound-bite political culture that we have today and actually think more deeply about representative democracy, taxes, local affairs and the like.

And since I haven't cracked the pages yet, I obviously need to get reading!  Talk to you soon!

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Smarty Pants: My Election Exercises

note: smarty pants posts are my thoughts on current events.  click here to read more.

Let me tell you a story about my first presidential election.  I was twenty, and really wanted to take my civic responsibility seriously.  I wanted to go into the voting booth informed and prepared, down to which judges should be retained and which levies to approve.  Good intentions aside, I also tended to be a bit of a procrastinator (still am!), and my election prep fell to the wayside as other more immediate concerns (like midterms) dominated my time.

As a result, I distinctly remember sitting on my sofa cramming on the election day.  Knowing that I was running out of time, I was diligently trying to remember which amendments I supported, and which state representatives I wanted.  The problem was that I really didn't give myself enough time to actually think about the ballot issues.  And though I didn't want to just vote for candidates based on party lines, I didn't have the time to find out about them specifically.

I did make it to the polls, and I cast my votes.  But I can't say that I felt very confident in my rushed decisions.  And in the end, the whole day was so stressful that I felt sick the whole night.

Needless to say, I've since learned from my novice mistakes.  And though I find that I've still procrastinated a bit in this election cycle, there's still time to do my homework and make intentional choices.  So, over the next couple of weeks I'll be sharing the "election exercises" I'm planning to get myself prepared for the vote.

And I'd love to hear more from you!  What things have you done to prepare for November 4th?  What voting experiences have you had in the past?  Email me at shillberry@comcast.net to share, or post your comments here!

Missed yesterday's Marketplace Maven, Heather Davis?  click here to read it!