NYET! My New & Improved Default Voting Position

I figured this out many, many years ago.

When it came to voting in elections I once spent a lot of time “weighing my options” . I would research this and read that. I’d study the “non-partisan” handbook that came in the mail outlining the pros and cons of all the issues, candidates, and referendums on the forthcoming ballot. I’d discuss issues with friends and associates and sometimes even debate those same issues at meetings and forums. I’d dig into the background of candidates, and always ask “Qui bono” when it came to new measures, projects, taxes, fees and other effluvia attendant on a democracy.

This process has now been filed under, “It seemed like a good idea at the time.” It led, in retrospect, to a lot of wrong votes that also “seemed like a good idea at the time.”

My new default voting position is much simpler, much more relaxing, much more efficient, and has a greater likelihood of being correct than my previous efforts. It has the added benefit of being capable of being stated in very simple terms.

My present default position is: “If voting yes on this measure or candidate will result in ceding more power to, or giving more money to, the government or any element of the government, vote NO.”