4 Important Criteria to Consider Before Becoming an Elected Official

The primary role of an elected official can be summed up in two words “problem solver.” People look to an elected official as someone in charge who can address their concerns. Here are four simple yet very important criteria that you must address before becoming an elected official.

1. Why do you want tPolitician at Podiumo become elected?

If you truly desire to help people, then be prepared to be a servant. After all, that’s the core of being an elected official; a servant of the people. If your ideals are not about servitude but instead to make a name for yourself, then you should not be an elected official.

2. What can you do for the people?

Although you can’t single-handedly do and fix everything, there must be something you can offer the people to solicit their votes. Talk with the people to become more familiar with their concerns and carefully select the ones you are most capable of meeting.

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3. How will you execute your promises?

You need to have a political strategy of how you plan on fulfilling your promises of positive change to win votes. This is your opportunity to utilize your skills, resources and contacts to have a solid workable plan.

4. When will you deliver on your promises?

Your constituents need timelines of when they can expect things to get better. Be honest and don’t set unrealistic goals just to win votes. If you get elected, you would’ve already set the pace for their expectations.

Answering these four questions can determine if you really have what is takes to become an elected official.

 

Don’t let Campaigns Become Pain

It seems like political campaigns never end. They start again the minute a winner gives their acceptance speech. They’re already campaigning for the next election or next position on their career ladder. Political campaigns have become longer in recent years and more intense. The media has caught the campaign bug, and we never seem to stop hearing about the latest smear campaign or latest large campaign stop by politicians. It’s easy to become jaded in this campaign ridden world, we are living. At times, it can be important to stop and smell the roses of this campaign melee that surrounds us.

We live in a nation where we can elect our government officials at the state, local, and national level. This means we have the choice and the right to choose our leaders. Wow! This really is an amazing freedom to have. A very important part of this selection process of leadership is campaigns. Campaigns can be good, bad, ugly, and lovely. They come in all shapes and sizes. But like it or lump it, they allow us to hear competing politicians state their goals, beliefs, and political views before they are elected. We may get sick of hearing about it, but its part of our freedom and the process required to elect governing officials in our nation. Maybe, we can stop complaining and actually listen to what they are saying. Another thing that can be useful is actually attending some campaign meetings. Even easier, is to watch political speeches on the television or a politician’s website. It’s so easy to locate information about campaigns now. We don’t have any more excuses. We need to know about those who are running and what they stand for.

Rise of the Modern Day Tea party

In the early years of the American colonies revolt against British rule, there are several landmark events that stand out in history. One of these is the Boston Tea Party in which some “rebellious” colonists, in Boston, Massachusetts went aboard a tea ship docked in Boston Harbor and threw all the tea overboard as a clear expression of their strong anti-tax opinions. Although these colonists impacted history and played a critical role in the Revolutionary War, it is doubtful they fully comprehended the leading role they exemplified for generations to come.

Throughout the 1990’s there were many anti-tax protests to display the public’s outrage of government taxes. In more recent years, Republican Congressman Ron Paul of Texas and his supporters held a fund-raiser on the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party for the 2008 Presidential Primary Race. The politician’s platform was to remove the United States from Iraq and Afghanistan as well as to do away with the Federal Reserve System. He and his followers strongly supported giving State governments more rights and keeping the National government at bay.

In 2009 a Tea Party protest was conducted by the Young Americans for Liberty in response to Governor Patterson’s suggestion for an obesity tax. This was one of over 100 taxes that the New York State Governor proposed. Many at the protest wore Indian head dresses resembling those worn by the Boston colonists at the original Boston Tea party.

In February 2009, a Seattle conservative Blogger, Keli Carender, rallied a protest the day before President Obama signed the nation’s stimulus package. She did not lean on other groups, but rather through her own networking was able to gather approximately 120 people. Later on February 27, 2009, she and many other “Tea Party” protestors across the country (in 40 different cities nationwide) protested to show their rage at the government’s behavior. It is believed that both Bush’s bail out and Obama’s bail out are the events that gave birth to the modern day Tea Party Movement.

Mark Kirk Attempts The Impossible

Mark Kirk
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Don’t think Mark Kirk doesn’t know what he has tried to do. This isn’t the act of a man trying to obtain office in a decidedly red state. When you try and become the governor of Alabama, being a republican will get your everywhere. When you are trying to become the next senator of Illinois, the issue is much more difficult when you back the republican party.

Illinois has been, for as long as anyone cares to remember, a democratic state. It’s major cities mayor? Democrat and his father before him. The senators from Illinois? A long history of democrats and most notably the President of the United States Barack Obama. The former governor of Illinois? A democrat through and through. A crook but a democrat through and through.

And that is where Mark Kirk is making head way and that’s what makes his improbable run for the senate seat that much more interesting. If you don’t recall this was the vacant seat left by the current President Obama. After it was up for grabs, former governor Rod Blagojevich tried to sell the senate seat before being caught and thrown out of office disgracefully. This seat holds enormous weight in Congress and one that the Republicans need badly.

So why would Mark Kirk be so bold as to try and do it? Simply because he can. The nation is at a place right now where it no longer is trusting of the Democratic party the way it was two years ago when Barack got elected. These days there is a lot of wondering just what the Democrats are trying to do. In Illinois they are coming off a time of great crisis and a shake up might be the only way to see effective results. Mark Kirk hopes to be that man.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli says DMV Can Refuse Work Permit Cards.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli issued an opinion on whether a federal work permit cards used at the The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles as proof of a lawful presence in the USA for a driver’s licence, State ID card.

The cause of this was trigger when a an illegal alien accused of drunk driving killed a Benedictine nun. Carlos A. Martinelly-Montano had two earlier drunk driving conventions and was awaiting a deportation hearing. He received a federal work card from the Department of Homeland Security to get a State ID card, He did not have a valid driver’s licence.

The opinion, issued by Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, concludes that the DMV has authority and discretion to decide the documentation to issue a State ID or licence. Virgina law requires the that their applicants give that they are legally present in the United States before being granted a State driver’s licence or Identification card.

Virginia DMV Commissioner, Richard Holcomb, says he is within his legal rights to stop using the federal identification work cards as proof of legal residence. However, If it is proven that a person is not of legal residence, the DMV can not cancel an already issued Virginia drivers licence.

The ACLU is calling the policy hastily adopted because of a terrible accident, they say there is no connection between a federal work permit and this specific accident. Kent Willis, ACLU of Virginia Executive Director says the state of Virgina is looking for a scapegoat because it allowed someone to drive illegally. He says the drivers licences and state issued identification are one of the most important government documents issued to many immigrants. The federal work permit card is used to receive a Social Security card, but not a state issued identification card. An applicant needed both the work card and the Social Security card to get a Virgina Drivers licence.

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