Will you vote for America?

In four months, Americans will be able to go to the polls and vote for the person whom they feel will be the next president, for representatives to the Congress and the Senate. Americans in many states may also vote for a governor and representatives in their state Congress and Senate.

Wow, we as Americans can do that and we feel that we are free to do as we think best. In a way, yes, we are ... but unfortunately the majority of contestants running for the various seats in both Washington, D.C., and in many states are either Republicans or Democrats. A few are Liberals or Independents, possibly some unknown by me are members of another "party." But one thing is certain: All of these candidates for office are asking for "donations" and that bothers me to no end, especially in the present economic situation in the United States.

Some of the candidates for various offices receive huge donations from what I call rich people who fund their running ... but still citizens are asked to help the candidates with any amount of dollar donations. The amounts many candidates get are in the millions, and these "donations" started months ago.

For months now, we have had a lot of unemployment in our beautiful and wonderful country, in some areas more than in others. We also have had some disastrous damage from tornadoes and other weather related catastrophes, and this is continuing as I am writing these words, e.g., in Minnesota and in Florida. These catastrophes caused millions of dollars in damage and unemployment still is rampant.

Americans are known to be the first in our world to rush to the help of others; we certainly can be proud of this! So my question is why those people who give millions of dollars that go to fund political parties and candidates do not send instead these funds to help America and Americans. I am sure that these millions of dollars would help the unemployed, the people who lost or are about to lose their home, the people who lost so much or even everything from tornadoes and other cataclysms! I am sorry, I wish I had the funds that politicians have and are getting from various parties because I would use them to help the needy, find ways to employ the unemployed who want to work.

I am no politician and I would not want to become one. Their realm is not one where I would like to be. What I am, is a "free thinker" and I wish that every American who plans to vote in November also be free thinkers, not think of himself or herself as a Republican, a Democrat, a Libertarian, an Independent, or a "whatever member of a party." My wish is that Americans would think well before going to vote, that they do not follow a party line like sheep follow their leader. My thoughts are that voters should weigh and think about what they see, hear and read before going to the polls.

Further, I think that voters should not vote for whom a certain party wants you to vote for or what a certain party wants you to support, be it the Republican, Democratic, or whatever party a voter belongs to. Voters need to be free to choose who they want to see voted in for the various "political" positions without having to follow the so-called party line!

I was upset when we had the primaries in Idaho. I was asked to sign in either as a Republican or as something else; in so doing I could not vote for some candidates I thought would be good for a certain position. I am a "free thinker" and I resented signing for any party in order to vote, so I said "Bye! See you in November when I will not have to be sign as a member of any party!" I don't want to vote for a certain person because he or she is a member of a party. I want to vote for a candidate, regardless of his/her party, but a candidate I feel will work for the United States, for America as a whole, for all Americans, not just for the area the candidate is from, not for the people who fund his/her election. As far as I am concerned the large funding from millionaires and other rich people that politicians receive in the hopes to get elected is nothing more than a kind of "payola" as I feel that somehow, somewhere and sometime the candidate who receives such funding and is elected because of this back-up money, will be asked for favors or told what to do to make the so-called donors happy!

We live in a great, wonderful and actually free country and I am proud to be a citizen of the United States. We do have the freedom to do as we wish as long as we follow the law and do not harm our neighbors and other citizens. We are Americans and we need to use our gray matter when we go to the polls in November to elect people in the various positions in the federal government as well as in the state governments where they should work to make our country great!

We also will be asked to vote for other matters that do affect us in our area or our state of Idaho that will affect us and our families. Hopefully we will not be swayed by what parties tell us we should do regarding this or that, but as we vote, let's think if an amendment or whatever else will benefit everyone in our state or area.

I therefore urge all Americans who will go to the polls in November to elect the various candidates not according to a certain party line, but according to their own standards and elect people who will "work" for all Americans and America as a whole. I sure wish there were some kind of "non-party" called "free thinkers!"

Gino LeRoy is a Kootenai County resident.