To vote or not to vote...

In just a few short months, Native voters will once again be faced with the challenge of choosing a president who we feel would be best qualified to run our great country and address the many crucial needs of Indian Country. We will also have the opportunity to make our voices heard with the upcoming county and congressional district elections here in northern Arizona. But before we do that, we must take into consideration what we've heard thus far from all of the candidates.

Granted, there are a lot of qualified candidates running for a number of different offices throughout our region, and lot of them are making promises in order to gain your support and ultimately your vote. A lot of what you hear may be taken for what it's worth, but some of it may just be pure political propaganda. So what should you believe?

In this case, I believe that actions speak louder than words. You can spout all the political propaganda that you want to, but if you can't back it up by doing what you say you'll do, then you run the risk of losing the most important element of the human condition - trust! Even the tiniest amount of trust that you have in a person -regardless of party affiliation - can go a very long way in determining whether or not you vote for a particular person and can even go far in helping you to forgive someone, who, for the sake of example, may have had a few ill-fated liaisons purportedly involving a cigar and an attractive young White House intern.

During the 1980s, the late Ronald Reagan, through much of what he did, engendered an almost unheard of unity in this country, one that hasn't been seen in quite some time. Even political opponents who did not agree with Reagan's politics felt a certain degree of pride when he accomplished the impossible - the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany and the demise of the former Soviet Union in 1987.

Far be it for me to judge someone based solely on what I've heard of them...it is ultimately within the eye of the voter to which many things that are seemingly unseen will be revealed. In other words, feel free to scrutinize all candidates in any way you see fit to determine for yourself whether they truly belong in any type of political office. Don't fall victim to rhetoric. In the coming months, pay special attention to what you see on TV or hear on the radio. Then and only then can you determine for yourself who gets (or doesn't get) your vote.

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