Vote Responsibly

The title of this blog comes from those alcohol commercials, where an announcer comes in at the end and encourages you to drink responsibly. After all, failure to do so can cause some really unpleasant effects.

However, even a hangover goes away after a day (or so). A badly cast vote tends to have more of a lasting effect…

I mentioned my party “history” in my last blog, but I believe this information is worth repeating.

I was raised a Democrat. In fact, my whole family is filled with Democrats.

(I will let that sink in for a moment.)

Despite my upbringing, I want you to know that I do not blindly vote for every Democrat on the ticket. Hell no, because this is not party time. Rather, it’s time for us to make informed decisions that will impact our lives for the next four years and beyond.

So, with that said, I suggest that we all make sure that we “get it right” in the voting booth.

Does that mean that, as some would suspect, I am suggesting that all Dems are bad? Not hardly. But, when the only thing that counts is the party line of “tax and spend,” it’s as Bob Dylan said: “The Times, They Are A-Changin’.”

How crazy is it when the Sun counts the following as a council qualification in an endorsement: “…even his background as a trained opera singer (he sang on opening day for the Orioles in 1983, the last year they won a world championship) may come in handy if it helps draw attention to East Side concerns.”

I can see it now—a potential councilman standing in the middle of Merritt Boulevard, singing songs to try and get people jobs, or right this way folks, plenty of Section 8 still left.

(Yes, that was sarcasm.)

What the Sun didn’t tell you is that Mr. DiCara, if elected, will turn his back on our wounded warriors and write the PUD that will give away your hard earned money to another politically connected developer that the Olszewskis support.

After all, who do you think is going to pay for the infrastructure upgrades to accomplish this “metropolis” at Fort Howard? That’s right, folks—the answer is you and me via our tax dollars.

Imagine the thought of North Point Road, as well as the rest of the East Side, taking on hundreds of delivery trucks in all shapes and sizes rumbling up and down the “one lane each way” road, along with the 1,000+ workers it will take to fill the retail jobs—jobs that do not pay living wages, I might add.

Mr. DiCara says he is “not informed” about the plans, even though they have been splashed all over the front pages of our local papers, including the Sun.

Hey, that seems like a heck of a game plan. Just claim, “I didn’t have a clue, but what can I do?”

But I will digress on Mr. DiCara, or else I will be accused (again) of picking on him.

Aside from the Fort Howard mess, just take a look at the shape the 7th District is in after years of false promises by the “party line” of the Democrats. Simply put, the 7th is the poorest district in the county with the worst schools, a high crime rate, and a huge chunk of our change being spent to deal with social services issues. Even the County Executive admitted to that.

Then we have the flight of the middle class from this state, since many of those who have moved did so because they were tired of the O’Malley way of doing things. After all, how can you truly support a leader with an obsession over being president while the state deals with a $200 million deficit? And if that isn’t enough, what about all of the politically correct garbage that has caused a complete breakdown of our educational system, where our own superintendent got caught up in the greed of an ethics probe.

That “party line” doesn’t seem like much of a party now, does it?

It has gotten to the point that some people have the “Why work?” mentality, as we saw in the Sun article about good paying truck driving jobs that go unfilled because it’s easier to live off the government than work.

If you don’t believe me, just stand in line at your local grocery store and watch 50% of the customers, all with diverse ethnic backgrounds, use food stamps. Many of those people have become so dependent upon the government that they wouldn’t even think of having it any other way. I am reminded of a television news story from earlier in the year where a woman said that she doesn’t work because she makes more in assistance than she would make “getting a real job.”

And that is exactly how the Dems want things—keep people reliant on those in office so that those in office keep getting re-elected.

If you can’t see what the Democrats are doing, or not doing, to not only the 7th District but our state and nation as well, then you’re simply turning a blind eye to the root of the problem.

For those who choose to ignore the problem, when you hear the thunder of tractor trailers running up and down our roadways day and night, just remember the old saying: “YOU GOT WHAT YOU VOTED FOR!”

Vote responsibly, folks. Your future depends upon the choices you make.