Two of the most obvious “bass-ackwards” things that too many Americans do wrong is that they don’t vote, or, only vote in federal elections!  Every cycle more people turn out to vote for national candidates than turn out for their political party and local candidates! 

The people leading your political party and elected to your local boards, committees and councils and commissions actually have a lot more power, and are far easily to gain access to, in affecting real change in our neighborhoods, schools, townships, cities and counties than our Congresspersons, Senators or the President!

Actually, everyone that’s smart enough to tell the obvious differences between another common, lying, cheating, thieving and pandering politician and a true public servant should be voting in all races every cycle – but, you have got to be willing to put out a little effort to do some homework – and it’s time, again, folks to focus on local races!

Go to the Clark County Election Department to get all the information you need. Click graphic below.

Tuesday, April 7^th is the Primary Election date for all Municipal Elections (you must have registered no later than March 7^th to vote in the Primary).  The deadline for you to register in the General Election is Saturday, May 2^nd and Tuesday, June 2^nd is the General Election date for all Municipal Elections – mark your calendars now and do your duty!

Once again we have the opportunity to “Vote The Bums Out” and vote for change, or make the ever so egregious mistakes of not even voting, or, worse yet, re-electing people based on little more than petty thoughts about popularity – which is why the vast majority of our politicians in power today are corrupt to the core! 

This is serious folks, some estimate that approximately 95% of the Republican Party and 75% of the Democratic Party elected representatives are corrupt to the core – that means only about 30% of those serving, less than 1/3, are in politics for the right reasons to be responsible public servants!  Isn’t it past time for all of us to start voting smarter?

I’ve lost count of how many people actually told me to my face “I just couldn’t bring myself to vote for Dina Titus for Governor because of her voice and accent!”  A number of people from Northern and Rural Nevada also unfairly criticized Dina for being an effective advocate in the State Senate for her district the South – when that was exactly her job description and duty! Well, that’s the sort of immature and uneducated “stinking thinking” that allows lesser candidates to get elected and worse yet, re-elected - again!

Did you notice last cycle that one candidate who hasn’t been responsible for very many citizens, ran for Vice-President, and was obviously selected only to pander to a small group of Americans - she didn’t even know if Africa was a country or a continent?

Closer to home, our county and state-wide political party elections have become little more than childish popularity contests – I’ve seen better candidates and elections held in student politics – it is no wonder so many of us have so many legitimate complaints about our respective party politics!  If you’re not angry – you haven’t been paying attention!

On the local Democratic side, not too long ago, we allowed one leader to hold power for over 25 years!  He was followed by a gal who got elected because her grandfather was a well renowned attorney and judge that got a federal building named after him – but, this had absolutely nothing to do with her competency!  She quickly proved to be interested primarily in her social status and establishing herself as “royalty” and tried to “reign” by only appointing her family and friends and alienating most of the advocates, activists and volunteers!  Then, the NSDP (Nevada State Democratic Party) elected a fairly popular local politician (that has been around forever and has become fully entrenched) who decided, once elected, he could be a dictator and didn’t even have to follow the by-laws and keep our NSDP Executive Board informed!  He was followed by another politician that decided to “jump the ship” in the middle of her term, and abandoned one office to run for another higher office!  Thus, we inherited a really nice guy that knew how to raise money from his wealthy friends, (and had also been around for a long time as an active volunteer) – but, had no real leadership training or experience! 

As a guy who was recruited, trained and served in a really large and very professional organization it boggles my mind!  What we’re doing in local politics, and at the national level, goes beyond being illogical, irrational or just plain stupid, it borders on insanity!

On the local Republican side of the aisle things are even worse – the local Republican Party has been playing “musical chairs” by rotating the same, small, elite clique of folks from one chair to another – and they are now in such disarray they can’t even keep the small staff paid let alone keep their Las Vegas office open where the landlord was giving them the space rent free!  This just boggles the human mind – while the Democrats (as dysfunctional as they are) are pay their rent, utilities, maintenance and a growing staff!

So, how long are we going to let a few people continue to make a mockery out of our democracy?  While many of us left our homes and loved ones to defend freedom all over the world – our own democracy has degraded!  We now have way too many people in powerful positions only for their selfish egos, personal prestige and the money, or, only because they have “paid to play” or become more popular than others - and many have become masters at rhetoric and pulling the wool over the eyes of uniformed voters!  So, please do a little due diligence and objectively determine who the best of the candidates are before you cast your valuable vote!

The day of reckoning has come – and if we all don’t start taking our duty as citizens, and especially as veterans, to get more serious and vote smart the situation’s going to worsen!