In the June primary election, a pitiful 37 percent of registered voters in our county cast votes. Maybe it was because it isn’t a presidential election year, maybe it was because there wasn’t much exciting on the ballot, and maybe it’s just because nearly two-thirds of you were too lazy to quit texting and make a choice.
You have a chance to redeem yourself starting when absentee ballots are distributed and up to Tuesday, Nov. 4, and I challenge all of you to cast your vote for the issue or candidate of your choice. Your vote really does matter because most issues are decided based on a simple majority — that means that one vote could decide the issue, and it might be yours.
Who represents us in Congress is important.
If you don’t think that illegal aliens should be allowed free and unrestricted access to education, welfare, legal aid, school loans, medical care and a host of other “goodies” that our taxes pay for, then listen carefully to the candidate’s message, and if the candidate is an incumbent, then look to his or her record — then make your choice.
If you think that people should have the water that was legally obtained for them instead of giving it to fish like the steelhead salmon that can’t possibly complete the natural cycle of regeneration (because they can’t get to the sea, or return to fresh water in a dry river bed) or be able to use a beach instead of giving it to a bird, then you need to make the right choice.
If you think the United States should maintain a position of strength in the world and use that power to maintain order and preserve human rights, or that the sacrifices of our brave soldiers, sailors and airmen should not be squandered, then you need to make the right choice.
If you think that expanding the national debt to nearly $18 trillion ($152,000 per taxpayer) isn’t wise, or that wasting billions of dollars on social programs that only exacerbate the desperation that low- or no-income families experience is bad policy, then you need to make the right choice.
On a local level, if you think it is bad policy to deny property owners a vested right to use their property, or you think that it is fiscally irresponsible to exclude an industry that provides millions of dollars of much-needed general fund income to regional and local governments, then you need to make the right choice.
The point is that there are many issues that you have a direct influence on. When you elect a representative to Congress, do you want someone who is beholding to a small minority of political/environmental activists whose only mission in life is to deny people the things they need to make their way through life, or do you want someone who would view the world through a broader aperture and consider the needs of the many?
And would you want to return a representative to Congress who has a long history of doing very little except quietly following the party line on every vote, no matter how harmful it was for his or her constituents?
One of those votes was for the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), which was supposed to create miracles and bring more than 20 million people into the health-care system. Well, according to press reports, there are still 20 million people who don’t have insurance, insurance premiums have risen dramatically and the whole government-run medical program has some serious cash flow problems. So, the ACA didn’t fix anything — it just made the problem worse.
We deserve better congressional leadership than this, and you need to make the right choice.
There are several measures on the ballot, and where you live will determine which ones you’ll get to vote on. Measure P, the anti-oil initiative, is on all Santa Barbara County ballots and is probably the most hotly contested issue. This is yet another poorly disguised attempt by the local anti-oil people to rid the county of all oil production.
The proponents of this measure are attempting to convince the public that there is a problem where none exists. The problem they portray is that our water table will somehow become contaminated if oil operations are allowed to continue. This is a gross misrepresentation of the 100-year history of oil operations in this county.
There have been no reports of any permanent contamination anywhere in this county after 10 decades of oil exploration. So, they are simply using a hypothetical “the sky is falling (or might fall)” strategy to make their case.
If you believe that the proponents of Measure P are purposely distorting history to try to convince you that there is a problem that needs immediate attention, then vote no on this measure.
Study the ballot carefully before Nov. 4, then vote!
— Ron Fink, a Lompoc resident since 1975, is retired from the aerospace industry and has been active with Lompoc municipal government commissions and committee since 1992, including 12 years on the Lompoc Planning Commission. He is also a voting member of the Santa Barbara County Taxpayers Association. Contact him at news@noozhawk.com. The opinions expressed are his own.
