In November, responsible Americans will participate in a presidential election, which has ramifications that will far outlive the foreign conflicts that have been the most prominent issue governing its outcome. Some of the decisions that the U.S. president will influence over the next term include:- Deploying and relief of American troops, our neighbors, contemporaries, friends, and family members- Reproductive decision-making rights, whether they belong to women, or to a government-assigned morality- The structure of tax code, whether it is designed to pay for American consumption of government sponsored programs, or to allow deeper descent into deficit debt- Social Security, will-for example-this year’s graduating class be able to collect it, when they retire?- The cost of prescription drugs, both for seniors, and for subscribers to inexpensive group healthcare policies-such as UMB students

What we, as individual voters, believe in, and will base our votes on is of less importance than that we check our facts. During each of the three debates between presidential candidates in this election, and the single debate between vice-presidential candidates, there have been distortions of truth, and misrepresentations of facts from both sides. It is almost forgivable that our leaders make a habit of deception, since we demand it. We-the American polity-are unwilling to devote sufficient time and energy to gathering information. Thus, in order to give us a general sense of their intentions and political philosophy, candidates are forced to simplify their rhetoric to the point of destroying all but its symbolic meaning. We must surpass these abysmal expectations. We must vote, yes, but of equal importance is that we arrive at the booth with scales cast from our eyes. Can we afford to continue to walk in bi-partisan self-deception, or has the time come for a generation of American voters to disappoint politicians who expect to win and lose elections based on a mutually conceived rhetoric of petty fraud? Get informed, people.

– Jeremy S. Simmons