Editor,

The ballots are in the mail and everyone should vote. As Greek Philosopher Plato said, “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by inferiors.”

For consideration: We have politicians who have been in office far, far too long. They have lost touch with issues concerning their constituents and instead they vote right down the party line. Some will claim that on the local level they bring home the bacon to their constituents but on the national level vote for what favors party ideology which, of late, has been extremely harmful to our economy, businesses and every individual.

The people we elect to Congress should not have a job for life or when they choose to retire. They keep getting reelected, mostly on name recognition or party affiliation because voters haven’t taken the time to view the record of that person they are voting for and the issues they support, or not. So we end up with the same people reelected over and over that are the root causes of the problems we all experience daily.

There is a cult of political ignorance in our country that is large enough to keep our government stagnant. It is time to oust the old crowd that has established power bases, arrogance and assume they can remain in office as long as they desire and elect new faces with fresh ideas and attitudes. There are plenty of these candidates now running for office who would do an excellent job if elected and given the opportunity. They all should be given strong consideration. Unless we change who we have in our government, it all stays the same and we are much the worse off for it.

Ed Hickey

Oak Harbor