Eyes in the Back Seat

It’s that time again… the mailers, the prerecorded phone calls, and those signs covering any square inch of grass on the side of the road.

That’s right…election time in Maryland. 

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems people have hit the signs hard and a bit early this year. 

Typically I pay little to no attention to them.  Sure I notice them in passing, but I barely read them and I don’t plan to make my vote in November based on the yellow sign I saw on the side of the road.

My son however is a different story.

Every-Single-Time we’re out driving he’s calling my attention to them.

“What’s that one say,Mom?”  He’s running for Senate.  (insert long discussion on senators here and the difference between state and federal government)

“What about that red one Mom, what’s he for”  “Fiscal responsibility”  (inset medium length discussion on what fiscal is and what it means to be responsible with our money)

He doesn’t stop with just one sign.  At a single traffic light, I am reading and explaining all 15 signs polluting the corner.

“Which one is going to take care of bad guys?” he wanted to know.   Apparently my son cares more about national defense than fiscal responsibility. 

He then wanted to know which one I was going to vote for and who I will vote for president in 2 yrs.  I was able to explain that I make my decision to vote based on what the candidate stands for, what issues they care about, not the catchy slogan on their sign, or even their political party.  So, since I don’t know who will be running for President in 2 yrs, I don’t know  yet who I will vote for.  And I need to do more homework before this election to figure out my vote for November. 

Thankfully, I’ve got a little accountability in the back seat to make sure I stay up on my politics.  Perhaps those signs are worthwhile after all.