Stop and think

While many people are urging us to vote — regardless of for whom, for what, or for what reason — there are very few urging us to do what is far more important: Stop and think.

Voting is not a matter of personal expression but a serious responsibility for choosing what course this country will take in the years — and decades — ahead.

Seldom have two presidential candidates presented more starkly contrasting visions of what course to take, both internationally and domestically. But this election is not about Sen. John Kerry or President Bush or even about the next four years.

It is about a country at a crossroads and closely divided as to which road to take — roads from which there may be no turning back for many years. We are talking about our future and the future of our children and grandchildren.

If you don’t have the time or the inclination to give that the serious attention it deserves, then it is irresponsible to vote on the basis of watching a couple of men exhibiting their debating skills or watching TV anchors spin the news to suit their politics — or watching the shouting matches between spinmeisters on what are charitably called “discussion” programs.

If there are issues you care about, there are records of how Mr. Kerry voted on those issues in the Senate and what President Bush did on those issues as president and as governor of Texas before that. Never mind how they talk now. Look at what they did when it was time to put up or shut up.

On education, do you want to hear rhetoric and “plans” or do you want to know what the candidates actually did when the chips were down? Secretary of Education Rod Paige was a district superintendent in Texas when Mr. Bush was governor. What did he do? What happened to test scores in Texas? Test scores of black children? What is the No Child Left Behind Act all about?

How did Mr. Kerry vote when the issue was making vouchers available to let parents take their children out of failing and dangerous public schools in the District of Columbia? It is all in the record.

If you can’t spare the time from watching sit-coms to go check out a few facts one evening at your local library, with the help of your local librarian, then don’t pretend that you are a responsible voter, or even a responsible parent.

Whatever your views, you can see the opposite views argued out on the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal vs. the New York Times. Whether the issue is the Iraq war, higher taxes or prescription drugs, you can depend on their editorials to be on opposite sides, along with most of their op-ed pieces.

Your local library probably has back copies of both papers or you can get them on the Internet. There is no excuse for ignorance, or for having heard only one side, which is worse.

Words like “strong,” “strength” and “stronger” ring out from Mr. Kerry on the campaign trail and from his campaign literature and bumper stickers. But how did he vote on military spending during his two decades in the Senate?

Mr. Kerry has talked about his time in Vietnam longer than he actually spent in Vietnam. Does his war record more than three decades ago give him lifetime immunity from all questions about military issues? Do those who rely on the mainstream media even know whether his war record is for real?

If a decorated combat veteran must be believed, then why are the many decorated combat veterans who served with Mr. Kerry in Vietnam — and served longer — not to be believed, or not even have their very different picture of him in Vietnam examined against the facts, instead of being dismissed?

Even Benedict Arnold was an American war hero wounded in combat but that doesn’t stop us for criticizing him for what he did later.

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