To the Editor:

As citizens of these United States of America we are blessed in many ways. Living in a free society requires individual responsibilities. Voting in our local, county, state and national elections is not only a privilege but a responsibility and obligation of all of us. Sitting on the sidelines neglecting the opportunity to vote is irresponsible and not acceptable. Not voting only represents a lost opportunity to make your voice heard and possibly lost opportunity for quality-of-life improvements or, more importantly, rejecting poor policies and laws.

Voting in the state of Oregon couldn’t be much easier. What is so difficult about completing a mail-in ballot? It’s past time that we all take voting seriously and become invested in the process by doing our homework, becoming informed and exercising our responsibility.

In deciding on individual candidates we should be ensuring thoughtful individuals — people who aren’t vested in interest that will harm public trust and jeopardize the principle of the U.S. Constitution and our quality of life.

There are proposed ballot measures in the upcoming election that in my view will have negative effects on our voting rights, the economy and quality of life that requires our clear understanding, such as Measure 117, a system for ranked choice voting, and Measure 118, a system for guaranteed income (a basic income system), which is wealth distribution and another entitlement program increasing our dependency on the government.

Be careful of voting decisions based only to please our emotions, name recognition or party affiliation. Be careful of misleading and/or factually incorrect appealing language/terminology —meaning something else. Be careful of decisions that squander our hard-earned tax dollars. Be careful of giving up our God-given and constitutional rights and providing more economic and social powers in the hands of the government, corporations, etc.

Be aware that individuals and proposed ballot measures may be well-meaning but may not be in the best interest of our country or us living in a free society. We should be pursuing the promise of our forefathers.

Now invest by voting!

Louis E. Provencher

John Day