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By GREG HAMILTON
© St. Petersburg Times, published November 5, 2000
Take a moment and consider what's at stake on Tuesday.
Three of five seats on the County Commission, the folks who decide how much property taxes you pay, are up for grabs. The same goes for the guy who sets the value of your property as well as the person who collects your taxes and license fees.
If you have children or grandchildren in the local school system, their education and future will be directly affected by whom you choose to be CEO of the district. You'll decide whether to continue to elect your judges or to let the governor and faceless members of nominating committees do it for you.
If you're in Crystal River, you can pick a new mayor and reshuffle the deck on your City Council. If you live in eastern Citrus County, you can decide whether to keep our absentee state senator or try someone who at least can find us on a map.
On a much larger scale, you'll decide who speaks for you in the U.S. House of Representative and the Senate. And, oh yeah, you'll choose the leader of the free world.
Isn't all of that worth a few minutes out of your busy schedule on Tuesday?
For months, we've been bombarded with enough political rhetoric and contradictory ads to make us numb. It's understandable to be disgusted with the whole business and to dream of a better way to put leaders into office. But that's no reason to sit this one out.
Political analysts say Florida is the key to the presidency. And we're part of the geographical center of the state that will determine which candidate gets our electoral votes.
Break that down, and it means that, more than ever, your vote realistically could decide who runs the United States. It doesn't get any more important than that.
In today's Citrus Times, you'll find a series of stories that look at the issues important to the various voting blocs in the county, from retirees to working families, from minorities to teenagers. No doubt, you'll find yourself included in one of those areas.
We also examine the steps that have been taken to get people registered to vote and to the polls on Election Day. It's appalling that such efforts are necessary, but we live in a country where millions of people figure that choosing their government just isn't worth their time.
Almost as bad as not voting is uninformed voting. Despite the reams of newsprint and countless hours of television time and Internet access that have been devoted to informing the electorate about the candidates and issues, this election will be decided by the undecideds -- folks who barely know the names of the candidates, let alone where they stand.
On the local scene, that's frightening. When you're talking about electing someone who will have the power to blow up the planet, it's incomprehensible.
Among the many theories offered to explain the undecideds' reluctance to get engaged with the process, one stands out: They are not the brightest bulbs in the box, and they prefer their candidates to be equally dim.
Lawrence Wechsler of the New Yorker, quoted in The Independent of London, summed it up this way: "Anyone who still hasn't made up his mind whom to vote for at this stage is either an idiot or more likely so incapable of deciding which candidate's centrist exertions most appall or disgust them that they aren't going to vote at all."
Todd Gitlin of New York University was quoted in the same article as saying, "There is a substantial number of Americans, especially in the contested states, who want their president stupid."
That attitude, by extension, carries to every race on the ballot. Halloween has just passed, but that notion is truly scary.
There really is only one way to change that dynamic, and that is to make sure that you are informed about the candidates and the issues, and then make sure you vote.
The alternative is to give over the critical decisions in your life to those who can't find their back pockets with both hands. And you'll live with their choices for four years.