VOTER GUIDE PAMPHLET ADDRESSED TO ‘RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMER’

Who is the voter guide in your house, your apartment, your room, your shelter? When you open that ballot and it all looks like a mess, whose advice do you seek?

I’ve got Malcolm Gladwell in my corner, his book Talking To Strangers under my ballot while I grind in another hard ink spot.

It’s all strange if you think of the people represented on the ballot, and I’m not talking candidates. Everything worth voting for or against comes with offices full of employees, motor pool access, and government attitude.

Be a voter guide and show your attitude. But first, about talking to strangers.

Maybe it’s an age thing, but I feel like I know a few folks on the democrat paper.

Quick aside: Wife and I went to Susan Bonamici’s DC office when we were in town. We’d called ahead for a tour. It was my first time in a Capitol office, but not my first office. I worked the New York Settlement Day desk back in EF Hutton days. It had a different vibe.

If the Bonamici office is a reflection of how she works for Oregon, then she’s who I want in that chair. We didn’t meet her, but her staff was dialed in.

Gladwell Talks About Human Nature

What better example to reflect human nature than a primary election?

It’s got to be harder to vote republican this year, especially for the fiscally conservative / socially liberal strain of voter.

Our man in the White House isn’t looking down ballot the way an experienced pol who came up through the ranks would. He doesn’t see the office trolls doing the work of America forty hours a week for thirty five years.

In huge numbers, people become statistics, forces who sway polls, consumers to pitch to.

The individual is lost in the crowd, unless they dress up in battle gear, blouse their boots, and straighten their gig line. And most of all, buckle on a harness and sling a weapon, maybe an ankle holster on one leg with a tactical knife on the other before meeting friends.

No misses those guys in public.

Human Nature Voter Guide

A candidate I have a good feeling about is Mark Hass for Secretary of State.

He’s well regarded and recommended beyond anything I can offer. Added all together, it sounds like he’d be a strong Secretary of State for Oregon.

My personal insight on Mr. Hass comes from meeting him at our local gym. He’s a gym guy, the right sort of gym guy.

His workout wasn’t organized for a fitness reminder, a box to check, it was power and endurance. Too many people hurt themselves because they overestimate their capacity; Mark Hass built his capacity by consistently doing the work.

I’ve seen him for years, saying hello in the parking lot, interrupting him with questions in the gym, and without fail he responded with knowledge and grace.

Professional people judge his abilities for the job of Oregon Secretary of State, and they’ve chipped in their positive opinions. I add this as a volunteer character reference:

Mark Hass is a man who thrives on challenge.

He’s not afraid to ask others for help.

He shows the same even temperament day after day, year after year.

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Be the best American you can, regardless of party affiliation. Vote for people and issues that push toward better outcomes for all of us.

The difference you can make, the same difference for everyone, is asking our elected officials to respect the ideals we hold dearest.

Every two years is a chance to make a more perfect union; every four years we look for one person to fulfill the duties and obligations of the President of the United States.

Today is the day it starts to show.