Dear Editor,
We have a timely opportunity to prepare for the 2012 election. As Brandon Township voters, we have ample time to go to the polls informed, alert and clear eyed in the knowledge that we are casting our vote for the best candidate.
We can start preparing now. We can attend township board meetings, budget meetings, watch replays on cable and examine newspaper articles that follow Brandon activities. We can scrutinize the statements and positions of the board members; gain an understanding of the issues facing us.
Or we can shuffle zombie-like to the polls and rely on incumbents because it is easier to recognize the bolded names on the ballot, easier to vote for the familiar than to explore the new, easier to sink into the status quo.
Is our voting habit like going to the same greasy spoon year after year: unsurprised when we are served the same limp French fries, the same flaccid roast beef?
Today, now, and in 2012 we have choices.
If we blindly reelect the same kind of board that we have at present, we will have only our uninformed selves to blame in the future.
Thanks,
Bonnie Beltramo