The current state of the presidential race means the upcoming Presidential Preference Election in Tennessee is important as any of 2016.
Tuesday, March 1, is Primary Election Day in Tennessee and around the South.
The state of politics in our country is in a mess. Perhaps that is why voters are looking for someone outside of government to lead this country. They want someone to change this country, to give government back to the people rather than have big money, lobbyists and politicians in charge.
However, change will only come about when the people of our nation demand change.
With one of the tightest races in Democratic history and six candidates vying for the Republican nomination, the primary election is set to be the pivotal factor in this year’s presidential election. While this primary election will not directly vote our new president into office, due to the way the election is shaping up, it is arguably as important, if not more important, than the general election in determining the future “leader of the free world.”
This election’s defining political characteristic isn’t love or hate for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton or even Barack Obama. Instead, it is the deep and growing ideological divide between conservative and liberals. What it means is that voters disagree, deeply, on an array of social issues, on the nation’s top priorities, and on what kind of leader they want in the White House. What it also means is that whoever wins, be they Republican or Democrat, will govern over a divided nation and it will be a challenge to bring the country together. They will also have a Congress that reflects the electorate.
On track to winning the Republican nomination is a man who has no experience in government, who shoots off at the mouth without thinking, who has no blueprint for running this country except to build a wall between Mexico and the United States, and who has no respect for authority. Hardly a conservative over the course of his peripatetic political history, he is now masquerading as one.
Another presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, has proposed a free college education for students, free health care for all. Need we remind you, nothing is free. Everything has a price tag, and someone will pay. The working person today pays for all the free things that are handed out such as welfare, food stamps, Aid to Dependent Children, Medicaid, corporate welfare, tax breaks for the rich, and housing, health care and food stamps for illegal immigrants. Every program has its payday!
What is disheartening is that as vast as America and the greatness and intellect of the people who live here, we have no better choice of candidates for president.
However, it’s not about Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton.
This election is about America’s future.
Voters, Tuesday, have the opportunity to drastically affect the future of our country — now more than ever.
To make your voice heard, it is important to vote. Voting in Tuesday’s Presidential Preference Primary could be the most important vote cast in 2016, because the fate of all of the candidates is up in the air. No matter who you want to win the primary, voting in this election is imperative to the maintenance of our democracy.
You can either vote for the candidate you support, or by failing to enact your civic vote, you are in effect voting for the candidates who you disdain most.
In a time when we hear, and probably know, that we, as individuals, are losing a lot of our rights, it is comforting to know that we have the right to cast our ballots as we choose.
We may be preaching an old sermon, but we urge every Carter Countian to go to the polls Tuesday and cast a vote for the candidates of their choice.
Nothing could be simpler or more basic to freedom as we know.