Know Before You Vote

I am sitting in a room in East Alabama as I write this column. Speaking engagements have me in two states where I have the chance to converse with people from all walks of life. I have spoken with teachers, business owners, farmers, and many voters during this trip. The interesting part of what I am allowed to do when I go out to speak is the time to hear from citizens as they ask questions about their various concerns in regard to what is taking place in our culture. In Alabama and Georgia, the people are very aware of what is taking place in the political world and verbally express great concern about recent decisions that the Supreme Court announced. Their questions inform me as to their understanding of what they see happening in our culture. The concerns and deep worry fit into several categories. One of the concerns is the “overreach” of government regulations. Another issue that always comes up during these question and answer sessions is education and how it has changed. The real fear is that more government regulations and mandates being forced on school systems will continue to harm the advancement of quality education in our country. In the Georgia counties where I have spoken, the issue of Common Core is always raised by an active teacher or a retired teacher. I have yet to hear from any teachers, retired or active, who think the Common Core concept is good for education. A teacher who will be returning to her beloved profession this fall told of leaving the classroom several years ago because of all the government regulations that were being forced on the classroom teachers. She also said as she returns to the classroom this fall to teach once again, she has talked with many of her friends who have continued to teach and each of them expressed their fear that with Common Core there is going to be a stripping away of local control of the education of the students and it will be replaced with indoctrination instead of teaching the students how to think, thus giving away a chance for a good education for the students. Her direct quote to me was: “Teachers are fearful they will no longer be allowed to teach students how to think but will be required to tell them what to think and how to respond only as if they are trained animals rather than people with a brain to think for themselves.” The sobering expression of the worry of this teacher quoted above brings even more fear to me as I think of government control using brain washing techniques to produce only the desired results sought by the government. We can all agree that a mind is a terrible thing to waste and with control being taken away from parents and classroom teachers, we can only expect the next step is behavior controlled by government edicts and mandates. In the various conversations I had with the people asking the questions, the issue of marriage and the definition of marriage being defined completely by government and judicial edict were always discussed. The family and the establishment of marriage predate government. The first institution and the first founding stone of society is the family as clearly defined in the Bible. Before we had government, business, or the church there was family. We have come to this point in the 21st century where the Supreme Court has made a political decision in ruling, as they did, against the Defense of Marriage Act and declaring the vote of the citizens of California to have an amendment to their state constitution as being not valid to define marriage as they so desired. Following that ruling, several people have expressed to me their grave worry that the vote of the citizens on any given subject can be declared not valid by five people sitting as the majority opinion on the Supreme Court. That should be a worry and matter of concern for each citizen and every person living in our nation. From the many questions, worries, and concerns presented to me over the last several weeks, I have discovered a glaring issue that must be addressed. The issue of people voting without knowledge of the positions of the candidates for which they cast a vote has surfaced during these discussions. I urge each voter to know before you vote. Ray Newman