Early Voting begins February 16 for the 2016 primary
election. As I wrote in my last blog
this is going to be one of the most important elections for our country that
most of us have ever seen. Your vote
does count, but only if you cast it.
As we draw closer to voting time I am beginning to hear more
about the elections. On Monday I was
talking with an individual about the upcoming election and I was asked about my
opinion on a local election. Just
happened to be a contest that I will not be able to cast a vote in since it is
a precinct race and I do not live in that precinct.
My response to him was that I really wasn’t thinking about
that race cause “I didn’t have a dog in that fight,“ it was out of my
precinct. His response made me start
thinking. He said yes you do. Even though the winner may not be directly
responsible to you they will still be representing Milam
County and you should care about
that. You know he was right.
The elected officials of Milam
County represent all of Milam
County whether they are precinct or
countywide officials. Think about it. A
county official elected to any county office represents Milam
County Along with that representation comes
potential liability for the county.
While in the performance of official duties an elected official could
wind up in a situation that would result in a law suit and cost Milam
County a lot of money. All the taxpayers foot that bill.
Another point he made was that in emergency situations it
was an all hands on deck program for Milam
County. What he meant was that in the past emergency
circumstances have required all county officials to take a part in meeting that
emergency. During a train derailment
some years ago county officials were required to perform certain services above
and beyond their normal roles. This was
also true during the county’s response to hurricane Rita.
Guess my point is that at all levels we have a dog in the
fight beyond those that we can vote for.
While it might seem as though the state and federal levels are beyond
our reach certainly the local races are within our reach. Even if you can’t vote for a candidate you can help candidates at all levels by
contributing time, cash and word of mouth recommendations to friends and family
to help their campaign.
I know we are all busy and seem to never have enough time to
get everything done, but we need to make time to learn all we can about our
candidates at all levels. Talk to our
neighbors and urge them to support the best candidate for the job. Bottom line is we all need to take our
government more seriously at every level and get involved and cast our
vote. Remember it’s for the people by
the people, and to get there WE the people got to get involved.
