Letter: Vote for best person, not what ads portray
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Dennis Brooks
Received: Oct. 16
Elizabethtown
Ah,yes, the cool evenings, the pretty changes in the landscape, watching TV by a warm fire and quick, give me the remote, where’s the mute button? Phew, just in the nick of time. If I have to hear one more political ad spouting off about their accomplishments, their opponents’ shortcomings and their grand plan, I am going to throw up my hot cocoa.
It never ceases to amaze me that people actually bite on these political ads, but then again, it must work, because politicians spend millions on them. Or maybe we have become too lazy to research things on our own and like being one-dimensional.
As a kid, I would spend time with my grandparents, who lived in southern Indiana. Crops harvested, waiting for tobacco to come in cases so it could be stripped and feeding hay to the livestock. My grandfather, Robert Brooks, and his best friend, Gerald Hatton, helped each other on their farms as well as my grandfather, Denver Webb, and his best friend, Purly Whittom. That’s what you did in the old days, help your neighbors.
This may not seem strange to many today, except for the fact that my grandfathers were red-hot Democrats and their best friends were red-hot Republicans. They didn’t let their political beliefs define their friendship and respected one another enough to not discuss politics. No victory, in-your-face celebrations, maybe the talk of voter turnout, condition of the livestock and the preacher’s sermon last Sunday. My Grandpa Brooks was elected for 27 years as a township trustee and eight years as a county councilman. Grandpa Webb spent eight years as a county commissioner and eight as county councilman. I’m sure their best friends thought nothing about the fact they voted across party lines for their capable friends.
You see, the valuable lesson I learned was that good people come in all shapes, colors and sizes; from different religious beliefs, financial backgrounds and education. From the lessons I’ve learned and the definition of the words liberal and conservative that I’ve read, I believe both parties had a little of both back then.
That’s why this year I will vote for Rick Flohr in the Bartholomew County commissioner race. I know Rick, and he is kind of the modern-day Gerald Hatton or Purly Whittom.
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