Unhelpful campaign literature

I've been uncharacteristically silent on the upcoming election.  In part this is due to the fact that the current political situation makes me ill and part is due to the feeling that my writing about it will probably make you ill. So I'll make it short.

Gather up the last handful of political flyers you received and look them over carefully.  If yours are like mine, half will say what horrible, despicable things their OPPONENT has done or will do and the other half will say what a horrible, despicable person their OPPONENT is. Is this the way we've learned to make informed decisions?  Do we buy a Toyota by reading all the things Toyota says about Fords and Hondas?  Do we buy a house by listening to all the things the realtor has to say about the other houses we've been looking at?  Do we hire the job applicant who tells us the most dirt about the other applicants?  Of course not.

Now you may find a few ads which will actually state a goal: lower taxes, reduce the size of government, etc.  These are much better but they never answer the obvious follow-up question: How do you propose doing that? Which taxes would you lower and how do you balance the budget with lower revenues?  Which government agency would you eliminate or reduce and what functions would that eliminate? Again, do you hire a job applicant who says he can save your company thousands of dollars but won't or can't tell you how?

In any case, please vote on Nov 2.  It makes the politicians at least THINK we're paying attention.