An election worker hands out a sticker to a voter at an early voting polling site in the Desert Breeze Community Center Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022.
Sunday, Nov. 6, 2022 | 2 a.m.
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Well, there’s not much left to say about the Nov. 8 election. You know, the one taking place in just two days!
We have all heard too much, watched too much and read too much to not honestly be able to say, “Enough already.”
Enough of the lies we get in our mailboxes, the exaggerations and distortions and, yes, lies we get on our TV sets, and for sure enough of the outrageous, incredulous and farthest-thing-from-reality claims that we get on social media.
Let’s get the election over with already so we can get back to whatever we were doing before this election thing started.
I realize that’s how a whole lot of Nevadans feel about now. We have all heard too many lies and distortions almost 24/7 for the past few months — so much so that we don’t want to listen to or recognize the truth, even when it looks us straight in the eyes. It all sounds about the same at this point.
But, don’t despair, for those who haven’t yet voted and need some credible information and advice, you can go to lasvegassun.com and see this newspaper’s endorsements of the candidates and the ballot questions. We have done the work for you and we have set forth the reasons why one candidate is more deserving than the other — in many races there is only one candidate who deserves your vote.
There isn’t much anyone can say at this point to those who don’t plan to vote, except tell them the truth. After all, it is the truth that shall set you free — enough for you to get out of the chair and out of your comfort zone to participate in this great democracy.
It should not be lost on any of us that our democracy is fragile and only continues to exist because the people want it to exist. When we stop participating — that means vote — democracy goes away. What is left is the kind of government most people on this planet have been running away from all their lives. And we all know where those who seek freedom, justice, liberty and the rule of law run to: America!
The point is that the worst can happen, oftentimes when we aren’t looking (that means paying attention) and almost always when we aren’t voting.
America is facing that same kind of challenge right now. It is no secret that there are insurrectionists, fundamentalists, neo-Nazis, haters of all kinds, megalomaniacs, election deniers and anti-democratic forces arrayed against this democracy. And they are all on the ballot Tuesday!
I have always been one of those people who believes that the voters — that’s you and me — deserve what we get. That’s especially true when we don’t vote and let others determine our futures for us because we stay home and don’t exercise this incredible freedom that is unavailable to so many billions of people in the world.
But even I can’t believe that people — those who are just trying to make ends meet, trying to feed and educate their children, trying to make the next generation’s lives better than our own — really deserve what too many candidates this year tell the voters they will do for them. Excuse me, do to them.
I don’t know how our elections will turn out and which direction the voters will choose to head toward. But I do know that there is far too much at stake to not let your own voice be heard in determining what kind of country we will become.
So, this is not a plea to vote for one party over another, or one person over another — as I said, our opinion about what is best for Nevadans can be found at lasvegassun.com — but it is a plea to just get out and vote.
Vote like your country, your life, your happiness and your success depends on it.
Because, this time, it does.
Brian Greenspun is editor, publisher and owner of the Sun
