ACH Study Groups
Ben & Fran Gilmore – Cofounders
7659 Gingerblossom Drive
Citrus Heights, CA 95621
916-722-2501 histbuff@garlic.com
www.ACHStudyGroups.com
September 22, 2015
This is a letter to our friends –
Understanding your vote
Please understand – your vote counts! God gave you the ability to make choices. When you choose an action you have chosen a consequence – for which you are answerable! Thus – Your vote is sacred.
What do your votes do? They help determine the governance (direction, regulation, control, restraint) of our nation, your state, county, city, and public school. That, in turn affects both you and your family.
We are now in the 2016 voting cycle. The cycle ends on Election Day, Tuesday, November 8, 2016. A lot of choices must happen before then. Please remember – each of us will answer to our God for the choices we make.
Caution – Not only is your vote sacred, it is incredibly valuable. Better men than you have given their lives for you to possess it! Evil, ambitious, scheming men are going to lie, cheat, coerce, and deceive in an effort to steal your vote.
In the spring of 2016 states will hold their “Primary Elections”. These determine the congressional and state nominees that will compete for your vote the following November. The party nominees for President and Vice-President will be named at their party’s National convention. [Republican – July 18–21, 2016 Cleveland, Ohio // Democrat – July 25–28, 2016 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]
Delegates to these conventions will have been determined in the spring primaries, state by state. Traditionally the mix of delegates pre-determines the convention nominees for President. If it is close the delegates at the convention select the nominee. That is why there is so much interest in the state primary elections. By tradition, the Presidential nominee selects his Vice-Presidential running mate.
The presidency is only one of many choices you must make in this election cycle. Who are you going to send to Congress to make the laws the President must sign? How important do you think your state government is? – Your county supervisors? – Your City Council and School Board? Is your head spinning yet?
The news media and national parties will try to keep you focused upon the race for President. While your attention is diverted, the “bad guys” will be feverously scheming to capture as many down-ticket races as they can. It will be Thanksgiving and Christmas season then New Years. After that, all the attention on the Presidential primaries. And suddenly – – the down-ticket nominees are decided in the primary elections and you are stuck in November with nominees you didn’t help and may not like!
My suggestions – Ignore pleas for money. Give what you can directly to specific candidate’s campaign funds. Take yourself by the collar and make a point of knowing the candidates who ask for your vote. None of them are perfect. Ask their position on guns, homosex, and abortion for a start. That sets a base line. Then dig deep for good character.
Get involved some way. Even if it is just chatting politics with a neighbor. Show a yard sign. Do something – so that you will have an answer when your grand-children ask, “What did you do to help save America, Gramps?”
