This time of the season

The fervor that comes along with an election season is understandably at a higher pitch than most other times during the three or three and a half years that fall between the presidential elections, our nations greatest example of our democratic freedom to choose who will represent this country we call home.

During those lull times the pitch is just a tad bit lower, registering in at a volume that probably wouldn't upset anyone's sleep.  Sure, sometimes a politician will insert his or her foot into his or her mouth and say something stupid and it'll get a blip on the cultural radar that is purveyed by an unbiased and neutral mass media engine that is seeking to inform the public.  People will get mad for a minute, but they quickly go back to their reality TV shows and sports after they've proven to the people around them that they care about the issues of today.

Part of me likes that time frame as it keeps level of crap at a minimal level, but the flip side to that coin is that our country is filled with people who firmly believe in the mantra of "ignorance is bliss" and the only way for that to change is for more people to become involved.  The catalyst to that scenario happening is going to stem from an election season.

We're nearing the debate season and signs are starting to grow in front lawns that haven't seen political commentary since either 2008 or 2004 depending on their political "affiliations."  

This sporadic attention to political happenings is not something that just happens to people on the left or to people on the right.  It crops up on both sides and it drives me crazy.  I'm not someone who is wrapped up in politics 24/7, but I do stay abreast of the situation enough to know of what's happening at least on a weekly basis.  I don't think there's a lot of people that can say even that, and that's not even.  Often people are highly opinionated for four to six months and then they go back to their lives without a seconds thought about whether they made the right decision or didn't.

One of the biggest pet peeves that I find most prevalent is single issue voters.  In general, I don't mind someone focusing their decisions on a single issue, but I'd rather see a desire to have a better understanding of the whole picture.  This once again is not something that is unique to one side.  There are single voters everywhere and most of them are really loud about what they care about.

They want you to know that religion ideologies, gay rights, the right to abortion, the right to school how you see fit, the legality of marijuana, animal rights, environmental rights, plus many, many more, are very important.  And they are.  They just aren't the only thing(s).  People pick what's important to them (which is fine) and wrap up every political vote they cast into that one issue, allowing it to dictate where and how they vote (which isn't fine).

It's not that I expect people to be able to ignore these hot button issues, what I want to see people do is to incorporate them into a grander idea of voting towards or for an idea/policy/person that is going to do something that will affect them in their lives and their children's lives.  A lot of those single issues by themselves don't do anything for the majority of people in how they're going to be able to live their lives.  

Why do people pay attention to these issues so much more than things like economic policy, international policy, the tax code, or others that will either be the downfall or the savior of our great country for not just our generation but for generations to come?  It goes beyond just lazy ignorance, but devolves into flouting disrespect for the men and women who have died for one of our greatest rights: the right to vote.  The right to, as a people, choose who is going to run our country.  We're a country of babies that need to grow up.

I don't care what side you line up on, I don't care what you believe.  You're entitled to your own beliefs, no matter what I think of them. What I ask though, is that you study.  Be informed.  Be involved more often than every 1461 days.