How to vote (not who to vote for)

Okay so I'll get on my soap box a little here to talk about voting. I feel that we are in critical times as a nation and it is SO crucial that we pick the right person to be our next president. Please allow me to ask 4 simple questions.

1. Do you care? I am most concerned over folks who vote without doing their homework. An uninformed or thoughtless vote can really impair the process of voting in the best person. In my opinion, a person who is going to vote for a candidate based on a few tidbits of information is doing our country a disservice and probably shouldn't vote at all. So I want to ask folks: Do you care about voting and our country enough to educate yourself? A caring vote is a very careful vote. Imagine that you knew your vote would be the deciding vote...could you vote with confidence? (Please say "yes")

2. Who are you? The first step in deciding who to vote for is to first examine yourself. Pick a candidate based on your values, morals, and the skills that you deem important to lead our wonderful nation. What matters to you personally? You have to know where you stand on all the issues to "match up" with a similar candidate. Do you want a candidate with higher, lower, or the same standards as you have? Are present times more important to you, or is our country's future of great concern? Where do you stand on same-sex marriage, socialized health care, immigration, abortion, government "hand-outs", the war in Iraq...etc.

3. Are you a donkey or an elephant? In my opinion, this decision can almost matter more than the actual candidate you pick. The reason is because, whether we like it or not, politics is a game and there are essentially two teams. Most candidates don't stray from their party's stand on issues. While individual candidates do have certain differences, generally republicans are united on their stand on issues and democrats too. Therefore, first you must educate yourself on how a party stands. I liked this website: www.svgop.com/files/Differences Between Republicans and Democrats.pdf So if you can mostly agree with a party's platform, I recommend being loyal to it. Besides, although the president is our leader, the parties (majority votes) do alot of the deciding.

4. So, who gets your vote? This is obviously where you narrow it down. Remember that these are politicians playing the game and wanting your vote. Talk can be cheap. I recommend looking at the person's background. Look at them personally (are they decent people?). Look at them professionally (what have they done in life?). Don't rely on the press (especially tv) to tell you what you need to know. Sometimes background facts are obscure and simply covered up.

Now you are ready. Please vote and cast an informed vote. You'll be glad you did.