Around the Bluhmin’ Town

By

Judy Bluhm

What’s on your ballet? If you love to read, be sure to look through your 354-page Arizona 2024 General Election Publicity Pamphlet. Yep, it is one hefty book that is waiting for us to read, digest and understand by having all propositions explained. Hmm, looks like fun. Soon, the voting will begin!

Voting is one of those fantastic freedoms that we all have a chance to exercise, so it is encouraging that possibly 100 million Americans might be voting. This “horse race” has become quite the spectacle, the tempers flaring, arguments created, promises made and prayers chanted. There is nothing more democratic than seeing the “power of the people” in action. Even the astronauts at the International Space Station will be casting their vote, and so should we.

My eighty-year-old neighbor and her and teenage grandson are in complete agreement with who should lead the country. She said she voted in every election her entire life for the “people who offered the best hope for our nation.”

On another related election note, a woman emailed me to say that the candidates that will get her vote will start finding solutions for important issues, like the fact that “we are all going broke, and that the world’s population of frogs and toads have been reduced by a shocking thirty percent.” When I asked her the connection between the economy and frogs, she said that “leaders need to be concerned about our environment (possible extinction of a species) and our daily lives (ability to keep our jobs and houses).

A one-hundred-year-old man in Nebraska was quoted as saying that anyone who votes should do so with the feeling that the entire weight of the world is on his or her shoulders. He said, “those of us who can vote, do so for the children and grandchildren who can’t.” And in doing so “we shape their futures.” What futures will you shape by voting?

In a world of sound bites and instant media replays, it is challenging to get the “real picture” on any one candidate. Ads are paid for by powerful special interest groups, quotes are taken out of context, spinning has become an art-form and not everything we read can be trusted (except for anything printed in this fine newspaper). It takes a little effort to sort out what is real versus what is fiction!

Isn’t voting grand? It’s that moment in time when we, the ordinary, step up to the plate, and get to hit one out of the park. We’re the “heavy hitters” who in a few thoughtful minutes change the course of the game (history) and can feel collectively proud, important and responsible.

A man emailed me to say that this election has “taken its toll” on his marriage. “We are in total disagreement,” he complained, “and it doesn’t make for pleasant dinnertime conversations.” Mealtimes don’t get any “juicier” than when people disagree about the fate of the economy, frogs, war, hope, and the future of this great nation.

Dear Readers, sit back, have a cup of coffee (or something stronger) and enjoy the “What’s On My Ballot” booklet. It’s a page-turner.

Judy Bluhm is a writer and a local realtor. Contact Judy at [email protected] or visit www.arouondthebluhmintown.com.