Editor,
What is most important in an election year is that voters get to know the candidates behind all the rhetoric before they cast their votes.
This is so because, in this country, we elect those we entrust to lead us. To be elected, a person must use the proper rhetoric that appeals to most voters. Quite often, in an election campaign, the rhetoric that is used does not reflect what motivates candidates in seeking positions of authority.
Some candidates seek public office so they can inflate their egos and/or personal wealth and have no interest whatsoever in improving the life situations of those in the public. The rhetoric politicos use during campaigns obscures their hidden motivation. During campaigns, the rhetoric is not confined, by integrity, to what is factual regarding themselves or their opponents.
Other candidates look to be in a position of leadership so that they are able to, in the words of Theodore Roosevelt, “Do what they can, where they are, with what they have,” to improve the life situations of all those who compose the public.
It is voters’ responsibility to hear the rhetoric and know the person behind the rhetoric. It is only when this is the reality that everyone’s best interests are served.
Robert Gardiner
Community member
