VOTE! BUT READ THE FINE PRINT!.

Midterm state elections may not appear as exciting as national congressional ones, but it is at the state level that voters are tested for the ability to govern themselves wisely. If we are less than well informed about the issues, we may find ourselves voting for and encouraging short term, quick fixes for complex issues.


Whether health care, or gun control, or agriculture, or education or environmental regulations or privacy and abortion rights, we need to sort out deceptive advertising from real planning.


A case in point.


We need better public transportation to get to work, to school, to medical facilities or just to be able to move about freely. We need to fix and maintain our bridges, roads, streets, infrastructure. We need to give men and women jobs to do these things, through the taxes we pay.


  Put all these words together on a ballot here in Missouri, and ask voters to vote "yes" on "Proposition 7" which promises to do all that. Yet, in small print on the same ballot is the
 following:


 "Provisions in Amendment to Prioritize Projects and Prevent Other Taxes"
Groceries, prescription drugs, rent and utilities will be exempt from this sales tax increase;
Priority will be given to repairing the most unsafe roads and bridges;
Increases in the gas tax will be prohibited;
Funding can not be diverted for other uses.




Sound good? You betcha, until we start to ask questions.



Why these exceptions? Short term for sure, long term economically questionable. Why have a sales tax at all on the necessities listed? Who determines priority and for what reason? Why not tax gasoline which is needed by commercial and private vehicles which do not use public transportation? And what if there is a dire need to take funding from this Appropriation and use it for something like a disaster? Why not use it?




Sometimes, in midterm elections it's easy to push a voter's buttons by mentioning those things we dislike the most or by cleverly playing one need off against another. As citizens we need to be aware of those "buttons" and turn them off and vote for issues and candidates concerned with improving the quality of life for all citizens in our communities.


So in this midterm election go to the Polls and vote but be armed with information and questions before you pull that lever or check that box!