Politics and Trick-or-Treating

Ok, so in my family we all get along pretty well, as long as we don't bring up the two things that you are never supposed to talk about - Religion and Politics. Well if you want to see pictures of Owen Trick-or-Treating you are going to have to first deal with me talking about the later taboo topic. (Of course you could always just skip down to the pictures, but there is that little bit of you that is curious about what I am going to say, so I know that you are going to read what I have to say anyway.)

Politics
How do you vote? When someone asks you that question, what is the first thing that you think of? Do you respond "I vote Democrat," or "I vote Republican?" If you did then I want to say to you "STOP IT!" (That is a stop it while hitting your nose with a rolled of newspaper.) I feel that a large portion of what is wrong with our country is that people decide that they are a certain party and they just show up at the polls and vote for the people with the (D) or (R) by their name. Voting Democrat or Republican is not "how" you vote, that is simply "who" you are voting for, and it is a STUPID way of doing things. What if you got into the voting booth, and there was no (D) or (R) next to the candidate's names? You would probably recognize the names in some of the big races: Governor, U.S. Senate, U.S Representative, but after that I would bet that you have no idea who is running for your State Senate or State Representative. What about your State Attorney General, County Council, School Board, should those judges be retained?

The problem with choosing based on party affiliation is that you are basically letting other people, i.e. "The Political Machine," choose for you. Look at George Bush, he was sold to the masses as a Republican, but if you look at the traditional tenets of the Republican Party - limited government, fiscal responsibility, etc...- Bush was definitely not a Republican. Yet because he had an (R) next to his name, people voted for him. You can make the same argument with Obama, he is not exactly what people thought a Democrat should be.

So how do you vote? Rather than simply being a mindless sheep choosing the "Vote Party Line" button at the polls (I can't believe that they even have that option, it offends me, and it should offend you too) why don't you take some time right now to download a sample ballot, and look up the candidates in each race. Look at their stance on the issues that are important to you, find the one that has the same philosophy as you, and vote for them, regardless of what party they belong to. And watching political ads on TV doesn't count as research. In the Maryland Governors race both candidates - a former governor and the current one - are busy making claims that the other one raised taxes and spending and that they cut spending. Well, one of them is lying (or stretching the truth if we give them the benefit of the doubt) and it took me 2 clicks with the mouse to find the information in the State of Maryland Archives that tells me exactly which one it is. If you don't do the research and just believe whatever your "party" tells you - chances are you are being misled, and they are counting on it. So take an hour, find out the issues, find out the candidates, look at your state issues, look at the bonds that your county wants to pass (and remember that every bond you pass will be coming out of your pocket eventually).

In case you are wondering, and I am sure that you are, I will be voting for 12 Democrats, 5 Republicans, 1 Libertarian, for 1 Maryland State Constitutional Amendment and against 1. I look at the decision record of the judges up for renewal, and see no reason why they should not be renewed, and of the 6 different bonds that my county wants to pass (totaling $267,798,000) I will be voting in favor of two of them.

Ok, on to what you really want - pictures of the boy Trick-or-Treating! I know that you are shocked and are thinking, "Wait, good little Mormon boy Chris took his son out Trick-or-Treating on the sabbath?" Yup, we did. Our cul-de-sac has 10 houses and 4 children. Because we are kind of secluded and off of a main road without sidewalks, the entire trick-or-treating crowd that visit these 10 houses is 4 children. So really, Owen going trick-or-treating was more to make the holiday fun for our neighbors that for the boy to get candy that we all know I am just going to "tax" anyway. (Out here in Maryland you have to teach kids about taxes really early.) We went out right as one of the other little girls came out, so Owen and Harmony went around the cul-de-sac together.

 Looking cute for Mommy

 Mommy took too many pictures, so the funny faces started

 Trick-or-Treat! (And the Boy is so polite he even remembered to say "Thank You"!)

 We should have taken a video of the Boy going from house to house, he is such a spaz - arms and legs everywhere

 Harmony missed a house, Owen was very quick to point this out.

 We probably shouldn't have let them go to the door by themselves, they would each ring the doorbell...multiple times

 The glass doors on the houses always got in the way. I tried explaining that they needed to watch out for the door, but they were like "No, I must stand next to the door, that is where the candy is!"

 Looking for something tasty!

 Which should I eat first?

The candy bar won, but notice the skittles were close by. The pictures ended at this point because we spent the rest of the night chasing the boy around the house!