Who do you listen to??

So election season is now in full swing for the midterm 2010 elections. Less than two months to go before the ballots are cast in November. Nationally, there are a bunch of Senate races (about half) and ALL of the House of Representative seats are up for grabs.

Most people don't really care much about the midterm elections. Hell, lets be honest, most people don't even vote in the major Presidential elections every four years. But this time, the 2010 midterms are more important than we might care to admit. With all the contention over the stimulus, the jobless rate, the wasteful spending, the social programming and the rhetoric, from both sides (all sides, if you care to listen to the little parties around the country), there is more polarized commentary than ever before.

But who do you listen to? Who is going to influence you on who to vote for? There is the Democrat and Republican parties, all the candidates, the major endorsers (like Palin and Romney and Jolie -- yeah even the actors who should just stick to their craft and stay out of politics are whinning) and of course, there are all the media outlets, traditional and non-traditional, as well as the plethora of bloggers (myself included). So who do you turn to in order to make up your mind?

For my money I would go with none of the above.

You heard me. All of these groups are putting out billions of dollars (all together) to get the information out to you. But it is ALL suspect. Even my paltry contribution is going to be laced with my own conservative slant. (Although I do TRY to show both sides when my blood doesnt' boil from it.) And hardly any of it will tell the whole story. Hardly any of it will give you the information you need to make an informed decision. Hardly any of it will be worth the paper its printed on, the newsreel it is captured by or the ethernet wavelengths its sent across. None of it.

So what are you to do to decide? What to do come November?

Well, you really do need to be informed. And long before the day before elections. November 1st is not the time to wonder who you should cast your ballots for. So where to go?

There are a number of sources. Go on the web (if talk to someone about this blog that doesn't have internet access or a computer, the library is free) and find places like ProjectVoteSmart (http://www.votesmart.org/index.htm) and input the candidate's name or just your zip or state. It will give you information on how they voted, a bit of biographical info and some other information abotu each candidate. Then you can see if they really fit your idea of what YOUR representative should be. Or the Washington Post Congressional voting recorde link. (http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/) Or even directly to the government website for the Senate (http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/d_three_sections_with_teasers/congrecord.htm) and the House (http://clerk.house.gov/legislative/legvotes.html) to see what your elected officials are REALLY up to.

No matter how you decide to vote, I just want you to think for yourselves. Don't let ACORN or the TEA party groups dictate who YOU chose for office. I don't care if you are liberal or conservative or somewhere in between. I will be letting my conservative platform come back in later blogs. Right now all I want is for you, the reader, to get out there and make a REALLY INFORMED DECISION, instead of letting MSNBC or FOXNews or whatever other group out there decide for you. Honestly, if you are NOT going to make an informed decision, I would rather you stay home. Our country is in need of serious leaders who are ready to do some serious work and stop all the partisan and special interest backed nonsense we have seen for far too long. And I would rather you just stay home and sit on your hands while people who are serious about getting America back on top of things vote for the people who will do just that.

My blog, my opinion and you can agree or disagree. It really doesn't matter to me either way. Just as long as I get you to think for yourselves. But hey, this is just me, Thinking Out Loud.

Have a great day.

(Auhtor's note - I am including the links themselves as well as a hyperlink to them for two reasons. First some may have hyperlinks blocked and two, I think this is so important I don't want anyone to miss out on these resources.)