Tennessee Republican John "Gerard" Donovan for Congress

For the past several months, I have found myself interested in a topic I once found taboo and trivial. I always believed the overall American spirit would rise above party lines and that my future was safe in the hands of our elected officials. I blindly trusted voters, the media, and the politicians who told me they wanted to lead us into the future.

I am not sure exactly how the change came to be, whether it is a right of passage or a sign of changing times, but I cannot get enough politics these days. I want to watch the news reports about where our primary candidates stand, I want to talk about it with anyone who will listen without arguing for the sake of arguing, and I want to write about it. I want to be informed and I want to make sure others are informed.

For the first time in my life, I am not afraid to tell others who I support and why I support him. (I support John McCain). I am not afraid to get into a political argument about the issues. For the first time in my life, I do not blindly trust what I see, read, or hear. Too much has been said to me to make me question why people support who they support.

I am afraid that if we give a candidate our support based on his or her image or how much money he or she has or how much time he or she has spent in the political arena, then our country is in for troubling times. We must concern ourselves with the issues. We must study what the candidates say. This is so easy to do in the age of the internet. There are countless websites devoted to educating others on where candidate's stand, how they have voted in the past, et cetera. All one has to do is enter a name in the Google search box to find answers. (Although I must advise to pay close attention to your source since the internet is also filled with a lot of garbage).