RUSHVILLE — Well, the election of my lifetime is over and now the next one can start. I will enjoy not having bundles of junk mail from both parties in my mail box. If nothing else, the Postal Service should have done rather well over the last two months. No more lies, taking things out of context, down-right fibbing to the electorate and mud-slinging like I have never seen. I did not vote for Obama nor did I the first time, although I was willing to see what he would do and judge him on that (and I did). I did not agree with him or his way of governing. I felt (and still do) that he is as ill-equipped President that we have ever had, yet I also bow to the voters even if I disagree, and I do.

I doubt if anyone actually knows what the turning point was, but I know we will have thousands if not millions of different reasons why this person was elected and this one wasn’t. That in itself tends to make me disgusted as I feel I am fully capable of making up my own mind without having someone who is no more informed than I tell me why I did something when they have no more of an idea than I do. In fact, I feel I may well know more about my feeling than the talking heads. Anyway, the election is over; I was on the winning side and losing side, as usual, and will accept the majority decision if I agree with it or not. Wish everyone would have that type of outlook.

One thing about this election that really disturbs me is the amount of money spent on it. I have seen estimates of cost of all elections country-wide to be $6 to 8 billion that all candidates spent. Boy, what a lot of good that amount of money would have done were it used to alleviate some of the problems discussed in the election rather than attempting to impress the voter. And how much of that money was from unions, large banks, large corporations, oil companies, military contractors and how much from you and I, the voter? I suspect the vast majority of those funds were from those who had an oar in the water, ones who wanted something that the President and Congress can give them. Possibly less oversight in banking, added drilling for oil companies, higher prices for farm products, more military contracts and a few million here and there might be the amount that would sway things your way.

I would like to see no money allowed other than from the electorate: no companies, unions or any other funds. If the contest was a state-wide one then only money from the state could be accepted by the candidates. And the time available for the candidates to get their message across would be curtailed to the three months prior to the election, not 3 or 4 years before the election. I suspect there are those who are right now working on the 2016 Presidential election and seeing just where they stand and what they need to do to get a nomination. The next Senate election in Indiana is in four years and Donnelly in six and I bet someone somewhere is looking seriously at both those seats.

To me, the biggest problem is the money spent by the candidates is not theirs and they need to spend more time fundraising rather than campaigning. A good example is how President Obama was continuously fundraising. And I wonder how much of the travel we, the tax payer, were saddled with? I am tired of continuous political campaigning for one office or anther and I really do miss full blown campaigning not starting until closer to the election. I have voted since I was 21 (that tells you how old I am, doesn’t it) and intend to continue as long as I am around. How many did not even get out to vote when it was made so easy to do so?  Why did those individuals not vote?  What needs to be done to make the vote become more important in the life of the electorate? I frankly cannot see anything else that is as important as your ability to vote your feelings and then be able to complain about what is done wrong.

Indiana has citizen politicians; they are not full-time jobs but are part-time jobs. I doubt if any of the local statewide office holders would agree with that statement, but it sounds good. It looks like the House and Senate is much more than a part-time job and, to a point, it is paid as a full-time job too. Of course, the Senators and Congressmen have perks that you and I pay for along with the pay. They have a lot to do and a lot to listen to and still realize at least 50 percent will be unhappy with the decision they make. Personally, I would not care to be an elected official other than the one I am, Advisory Board for the Township. I would not care to have to fund-raise all the time, spend all my time either campaigning or legislating. My ego has long ago defaulted to the point I could care less about my importance, or lack there of. I am tired, old, hard headed, and difficult to get along with and much like a lot of other people in our country.