Minnesota Majority Launches Its “Vote Your Values” Campaign PDF Print E-mail
Written by Jeff Davis   
Tuesday, 07 October 2008 07:40


There may have been a time when a voter could confidently know that a Democrat would stand for one thing and a Republican another, but that certainly isn’t the case anymore. Former Democrat Senator Joe Lieberman spoke on Senator John McCain’s behalf at the Republican National Convention. Republican Senator Norm Coleman was a Democrat as mayor of St. Paul. Even conservative Republican icon Ronald Reagan was once a Democrat. Minnesota Majority’s 2007-2008 Legislative Scorecard ranked some House Republicans lower than some Democrats on traditional values issues. That’s why it’s more important than ever to know where the candidates stand and be prepared to vote based on principles instead of just blind party loyalty.
 
To help voters understand where the candidates stand on the issues, Minnesota Majority launched a new election awareness campaign called “Vote Your Values Minnesota”. The campaign was introduced with a new metro-area billboard featuring an undecided voter facing a choice between party and principle. The billboard directs people to the website, www.VoteYourValuesMN.org which includes a collection of resources to assist voters get informed this election season. Visitors to the site will find their legislators’ voting record, tools to find their polling place, getting registered to vote and information about the candidates on the ballot in their district among other things.  A number of competitive House races are also spotlighted with side-by-side candidate comparisons on a variety of traditional values issues.
For the American Republic to function, a critical component is an informed electorate. This is part of the reason our Founders guaranteed freedom of the press. The newspapers were supposed to be the watchdogs of the republic. Unfortunately, many feel let down by the press in today's society. A typical half-hour newscast consists of about 2 minutes of news that is actually useful to a voter. News has become little more than another form of entertainment and most Americans believe that today's media is biased, so they don’t trust what little information is presented.

It’s Minnesota Majority’s mission to help fill the gaps in mainstream media coverage of the issues that affect everyday Minnesotans. It doesn’t have to be difficult to be a good citizen. Our goal is to make being part of an informed and effective electorate a convenient and easy thing to do because our society depends on it.

We have assembled a variety of resources to help individuals be prepared to participate in the greatest form of government in the world. You can find out what political district(s) you live in, what races are taking place in your district, how your current representatives have voted on key issues and, in many cases, the positions of the challenging candidates. We also provide the tools to allow you to register to vote, contact your elected officials to ask them questions or give them a piece of your mind. You can find most everything you need to get informed and get engaged on our website.

Every election is important. Don’t sit this one out. Get informed and help steer our government in the right direction.

Cross-posted at Minnesota Majority. Comments welcome.