Get informed before you vote

William R. Woodall, Waldorf, Md.
A funny thing happened to me the other day when I went to the polls to vote. I hate to admit it, but most of the people on the voting slate, I didn’t know anything about. I read the newspaper, searched the internet and surveyed my ballot sheet, and I still saw a bunch of strangers on the ballot.
Some of them were political carpetbaggers and one was convicted in a Military Court Martial and pardoned by a U.S. president. Now, I’m a pretty informed person about our current state of affairs and will follow C-Span television on important decisions such as the selection of our next Supreme Court Judge.
By the way, the convicted Military person got over 29,000 votes for an important office in Maryland. I was relieved that this person was not elected. I’m convinced that we don’t have our most trusted people in office, and I don’t know what we can do about it.
Voting non-responsible people into office can change your towns, cities, states, country and the world. People that represent our country are the backbone of law and order and our Democracy. My dad use to say, “If you want to know the true character of a person, give them power.”
Elected officials will give some people more power than they can handle. Sometimes even the best selected person is not what you thought they would be. How do we make our system better? How do we honestly know the backgrounds of the person on the ballot? What is the vetting process we use on candidates before they are put on the ballot? How can you and I be assured that the candidate we vote for can perform their duties and oath of office?
I guess I’m old fashion and expect our elected officials, regardless of their political party affiliation, to do what’s best for the people and America when presented with decisions that affect the majority of its citizens.
The country is currently divided on most all issues and caused a situation that could be as dangerous as another Civil War. Dividing brother against brother, family against family, the way our government is today will cause more civil distrust and confrontations between people like we have never seen in ages.