Candidates must earn our votes and our respect

January 2008 Letter of the month

• Published February 05, 2008

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The political process has begun in earnest. We hear political leaders and leader-wannabes promise all sorts of things. The easiest feel-good promises will be around taxes, government regulations and government waste.

There will be promises of no additional taxes, or even more appealing - lower taxes. But we will never hear how that will affect our safety and services. We will be promised a reduction in government regulations, but not which ones and how their elimination will affect us. We will be told government waste will be eliminated, but never how much that is in real dollars or as a percent of the overall state budget.

How will the politician achieve consensus in the Legislature and with the voters for any of their promises? How will these promises affect us now and into the future? Without specific and detailed answers to these most basic of questions, how can we as citizens, voters and consumers of government services even cast a vote?

It is not acceptable in this day and age of mass communications to simply re-state political ideology or party-line platforms. As informed voters, we need solid information to choose our leaders. We are not choosing a political party, nor are we choosing an ideology, we are choosing leaders.

So to each politician I say Happy New Year and happy campaigning. Give us your detailed plans - earn both our vote and our respect.

Bryan Nelson, Tumwater