Step back: Sometimes, to see the future, you have to take hard look at now

It is easy to fall for hype -- and that is what you are seeing in the ads associated with the U.S. Senate race in North Carolina.

When a candidate has nothing to stand on, he or she reaches for a touchstone, an issue that will make people pay attention -- usually to take attention away from a question he or she does not want to answer.

And in Democratic candidate Kay Hagan's commercials, that is exactly what is happening.

Republican Thom Tillis might have been a player in the decisions made about education in this state this year -- and you might disagree with some of them. But the question of whether he would make a good senator based on those decisions is not quite so cut and dried. And in the commercials, some of the "facts" are simply distractions from reality.

And whether Sen. Hagan deserves another term in office is not so cut and dried, either -- there are some special interest claims lurking around there, too -- and some questionable decisions that have had far-reaching implications.

As you are considering your next step, please keep something in mind: No decision on a representative for your state should be made based on a party-produced television commercial.

Read and then read some more. Watch debates and analyze the answers. Skip the spin. Skip the "talking points" sent out by parties to distract you from the answers. Step back and look hard at the decisions and the connections, the truth vs. the campaign creations. Think about what a senator controls and how much difference one vote can make. Then, think about reality -- what it will take to turn this country around.

That is the only way to pick the right person to represent this state in Washington.

It is a decision that could have an enormous impact on the future of this country -- and it is in your hands.

Published in Editorials on September 16, 2014 11:54 AM