THE RANT: November 7

Dear people who got bothered during dinner by political phone calls and

suffered bombardment by political ads,

Did you really need to be rude? I know this political polling, endless campaigning and airwave constraining ads are annoying at times. But as someone who was making those calls and putting up those yard signs, was it appropriate to be rude?

Every four years, we hear the same complaints. But maybe if voters got informed, individuals would not have to work so hard to get their messages out there. Furthermore, these individuals are taking the time to ensure our political process is maintained. These very dedicated individuals give up nights, weekends and a better chunk of their personal sanity to ensure the continuation of our democracy. What do they get in return? Insults. Have an opinion, but be respectful.

Even worse is the measure of complaints about political ads. Granted, a sizeable amount of these ads are out-right ridiculous and not very prevalent to the political process. Subsequently, they seem to drive ideas that are not even factually based. But they would not continue if they did not work. The facts are not an evil thing folks. If you took the time to familiarize yourself with actual facts and not just repeat the garbage that is thrown at you in these 10-second sound bites, they would stop.

Finally, most of these things are our own fault. If we educated ourselves these things wouldn’t work on us. If we participated more in the process, you would be making those phone calls, not receiving them. If you really are completely fed up with things, then I invite you to find a nice dictatorship, become a citizen and air your complaints there. This is all part of the democratic process, and be thankful you get to participate.

Respectfully,

Blaine H. Reynolds