Walking in the Valley A weekly column for those who live and walk in Silicon Valley by Barbara Dahlgren

Cast Your Lot Column for the week of October 13-19, 2002

archives |

printer-friendly version

In the Old Testament they used to cast lots to make decisions. Today we have a similar method for choosing something. We call it voting. Our next general election takes place on November 5.

When the mud starts slinging, you know it's time to vote. Gray Davis throws a little mud at Bill Simon. Bill Simon throws a little at Gray Davis. The other nominees for California governor, Gulke, Adam, Camejo, and Copeland would probably sling mud too but they don't have big backers like the Democrats and Republicans to pay for their slingers or provide them with first class mud. And Al Gore seems to be starting his campaign for the Presidency against Bush a wee bit early, don't you think? Maybe he feels he needs a head start. Two more years of him taking potshots at the president may get a little tedious. "Yes, Al, I'm sure you could have done a better job than Bush but you didn't get elected, did you?" Don't you just love politics?

Words cannot express my excitement when my Sample Ballot and Voter Information Pamphlet arrived in the mail. Nothing I like better than reading a mystery. And that's exactly what these pamphlets are…mysteries. Because when you vote unless some divine revelation has come to you, you won't really know what you're voting for. God is not the author of confusion so I know He doesn't help write these pamphlets. (1 Cor. 14:33)

For example take State Proposition 51. The pamphlet says the money is supposed to go for a variety of transportation, environmental, and highway and school bus safety programs. However, the Thursday, October 10, 2002 edition of the San Jose Mercury News says not to get "snookered" into voting for it. What the proposition doesn't tell you is that some of those transit related projects are "a charter school in Oakland, a railroad museum in Sacramento, and a $2 million golf cart path in Orange County." And that's just the tip of iceberg. We can't even try to read between the lines on some of these propositions in the pamphlet because they won't give us enough information to make an intelligent vote.

What happened to the good old days when we just voted for one specific thing on each ballot? Now each proposition is laden with hidden agendas and so many varied parts that no one knows what they are voting for until it is too late. Then the government just laughs at us and says, "Gotcha!"

One might think that I'm against voting. Not true. I think democracy is the best form of man-made government on the face of the earth. If I don't exercise my right to vote then I really have no right to complain about the outcome. And I love to complain. Next time you hear a person complain about a proposition that passed or someone who was elected to office just ask them, "Did you vote." If they say, "No." Then say, "I'm sorry but you're opinion doesn't really count." I, personally, intend to keep casting my vote until I eventually vote for something I really understand or by some strange twist of fate, vote for something I'm really glad I voted for…. or against…or for…or against.

©October 2002

Be sure to visit this page every week to read the next edition of Walking in the Valley. You can write to the author at bdahlgren@wcgsouthbay.org.