To the editor,
Alas, it’s almost here, the 2018 election, that is. Soon we can put this recent drama behind and start on some fresh drama for the 2020 elections….wait, I guess that started months ago. Enjoy!
I offer a few considerations for this election. First, I’ve recently been made aware that our ballots will no longer have checkboxes which allow voters to vote straight party tickets, which I think is wonderful and will prompt us to consider the candidates in each race.
I have alternately considered myself a Republican, Democrat, and Independent party member. I’m pretty sure I’ve never voted a straight party ticket, and I encourage you to evaluate candidates in each race with respect to how their values, views, past experiences, and goals coincide with yours. Every election, I find that a candidate (or candidates) from a party or parties other than the one to which I’m currently registered seem to fit my desires for what I would like to see represented in that particular office. I don’t think I’m at all unusual…well…at least in feeling that some candidate from another party than mine could or would be the best representative for a particular office. I encourage us all to evaluate all candidates, regardless of their stated party affiliation, with respect to how their particular values equate with ours, and vote accordingly.
Ever find a race on your ballot in which you know neither candidate or anything about either one? Yeah, I thought so…so have I. So we just made a random guess, based on our party affiliation, how much better we liked one name better than the other, or we were in such a hurry to get out of our little tent that we picked the one easiest to get to the oval with our pencil. You didn’t do that? It was just me? Well, I’m sorry. I think I finally realized voting on candidates is a little different than the multiple-choice history test questions that I didn’t know the answers for, and I at least had a chance of getting one right if I guessed. I’ve come to realize that randomly selecting candidates does little or nothing to represent my interests, as I know nothing about their interests or agendas. I now feel it’s unfair to the candidates and my country to vote for someone without knowing anything about them.
The last consideration I offer you for this election is your consideration of Melissa Frederick for Greene County Supervisor for District 3. I have known Melissa as long as anyone in Greene County. I can attest that, according to the grades she received in school, and the amount of time I witnessed her studying, it is likely that she guessed at significantly less multiple-choice test questions than I, and that she has a great mind. She has ability to thoroughly research issues and arrive at best decisions and solutions. She will work hard independently and collaboratively to try to best represent Greene County’s citizens’ interests.
As she and her husband Bill are committed and indentured grain and livestock farmers, they plan to be residents here as long as the bank requires and life allows. They have concerns for their and their fellow producers’ economies, the environment, and progress for our county, its workers, and its residents’ well being. As they have a young daughter who they hope may someday have an interest and opportunity to reside in our county, should she desire, Melissa sees incentive to do her best to help move the county in a direction where this is possible for her daughter and other residents like her. Another of Melissa’s priorities is making the county attractive to current residents and prospective residents from other places. I appreciate the initiative Melissa has taken to try to become a person who I think can best represent the citizens of Greene County, and her daughter, Leah, whom I’m fortunate enough to be a grandparent to. Leah deserves the best. So do I. So do you.
Here’s hoping that you now have one less multiple-choice test question you’ll be completely guessing about.
Sincerely, Steve Bosshart, rural Jefferson
