Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/401602
OCTOBER 22-28, 2014 UCW 5 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM For the last month or so, I have been travelling with good friends. It has been wonderful and relaxing, but I am glad to be home. The truth is that there is nothing quite like one's own bed and one's own routine. That being said, while travel makes one appreciate home, it does broaden one's perspectives on history, architecture and the people who came before us. It also gives us glimpses of the way other people live —what they do each day, how they connect with family and friends, what they wear and what they eat. At my stage of life, travel is less about seeing all the sights as it is about the experience of traveling with people whose company I enjoy. It is also about the food in other places and other cultures! I want the food to be wonderful wherever we are or I do not want to go at all. Our travels were blessed with almost perfect food. We relished the freshest fall vegetables, including perfect red tomatoes and seafood to die for, especially soft shell spider crabs in season for such a short time. There were divine desserts, chocolate in all concoctions being my favorite and wines that matched it all. I took photos of several yummy dishes, and, yes, I will have to exert some serious self-discipline between now and our upcoming Thanksgiving feast. My interest in good food leads me to another significant interest, good government. If that seems a bit of a stretch, think of it this way. A filet mignon and a fresh, crisp farm-to-table salad are to good government as a greasy fast food burger and salty fries are to bad government. The 2014 General Election looms and national and world spotlights are on North Carolina's U.S. Senate race, the most expensive in the nation, a dubious distinction indeed. Cumberland County has a hotly contested state senate face off, as well campaigns for sheriff, county commissioners, district court judges and school board. That is a lot for voters to sort out and think about, and the temptation for many is to throw up our hands and say "I am just one person, so my vote does not matter." Except that it does matter, as many a hopeful who has lost an election by a handful of votes can painfully attest. It also matters that we participate in the process of representative democracy, or our system will not work. Some people say that has already occurred, but I prefer a more optimistic view. In a community our size, many of us actually know some of the candidates who are offering themselves for elective service, and we can form our own opinions about them. Even if we know some candidates, we are unlikely to know them all, so how do we evaluate them in an era when conventional media outlets have scant coverage of local political races? It is not easy. One way is to ask our family, friends, neighbors and colleagues what they know about the various candidates, and chances are someone we know will know some of them. A first-hand opinion from someone we trust is a thousand times better than taking the word of a slick mailer or screaming TV ad designed by a political consultant whose livelihood is determined by how good he can make his candidate look, or more likely, how badly he can portray the opposition. While we are on the topic of negative advertising, why we see it at all is that it works. Voters who profess to hate negative ads but who have no other information will internalize some of the negative messages, whether they are true or not. It is fair to say that they are never the whole truth and nothing but. Chances are you have heard more about North Carolina's U.S. Senate candidates than you ever wanted to know, and I doubt there are enough undecided voters in that race to fill up a FAST bus. As you consider the local races, the level of government that is closest to us and which impacts our lives most directly, I find it helpful to evaluate candidates not only on their political positions but on their character. Are they honest in their dealings with family and friends and in their professional and business lives? Do they have the respect of people who do know them personally? Are these people we want our children and grandchildren to respect and to see as role models? I have voted for candidates with whom I disagreed on one issue or another if I saw that person as someone with integrity. He or she gets my vote if I trust him or her to work hard and to do the right thing for our community, not just a political party. I am keeping my fingers crossed that Cumberland County opts for the steak and leaves the fast food in the bag. MARGARET DICKSON, Contributing Writer, COMMENTS? Editor@upandcom- ingweekly.com.. 910.484.6200. THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET Serving Fayetteville Over 50 Years! 484-0261 1304 Morganton Rd. Mon-Sat: 6am-10pm Sun: 7am-2:30 pm Daily Specials • Breakfast • Lunch • Dinner Fresh Seafood • Hand Cut Steaks • Homemade Desserts • Italian & Greek • Children's Menu Banquet rooms available up to 100 guests Contest&RequestLine: 910-764-1073 www.christian107.com KeepingtheMainThing...theMainThing. visitusonline FocusontheFamily 20Countdown Magazine Adventures in Odyssey Young, Untrained and Behind the Wheel by MARGARET DICKSON A filet mignon and a fresh, crisp farm-to-table salad or divine chocolate dessert are to good government as a greasy fast food burger and salty fries are to bad government.