Voters will go to the polls in exactly one year to elect the next president of the United States. But if local campaigns and voter behavior are any indication of what we can expect next November, Florida and the rest of the country may be in real trouble. Candidates from Hialeah to Miami Beach during last week’s elections, appeared more interested in getting voters to laugh at their jokes or poke fun at their opponents than they were committed to developing and then standing behind a clear platform. That may be why the majority of incumbents were able to hold onto their seats — not because voters felt they had a clear choice but rather because they didn’t understand where the candidates really stood. Low voter turnout tends to result in an outcome of business as usual — that was the case here in South Florida.
Wouldn’t it be refreshing to see a candidate who stood for something and refused to change their position no matter what? Florida’s Republicans will make their way to polls in the primaries in just 90 days. Chances are it will be another case of a slew of trains running amok, tantamount to what we are seeing among the Republican candidates for president. Put another way, as one singer said, we can expect most candidates to be “Talking loud and saying nothing.”
Regardless of your political party affiliation, we must begin to seriously do our homework, studying the policy statements of all of the candidates and their voting records. And of course we must make sure we update and complete our own paperwork so that we can not only vote but so our vote is counted.
Some political experts believe that Florida may well decide the presidency for 2012. If that is true, then we can expect to see a whole lot of pomp and circumstance, celebrity drop-ins, glamorous receptions and high-priced, VIP dinners. We may even see a few breathtaking models show up at the polls following the example of one Miami Beach mayoral hopeful who incidentally, lost the race.
For the record, eye-candy will not pay the bills. And this is not reality TV. This is serious business in very difficult times. Make your vote count!
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