The danger of one-issue voting

In our democracy, where all have the privilege and responsibility to vote and determine our leaders, it's important that we do our best to understand all the issues before us and to know the candidates who will best deal with those issues.

As we approach a very important election, I believe we should all consider the danger of one-issue voting.

By one-issue voting, I mean that one chooses the person for whom he or she will vote because that candidate has indicated that he or she believes in something that I definitely believe in. For example, many West Virginians vote for a candidate solely on the basis of that person's promise to work to outlaw abortion.

Abortion is an important issue -- and it would be great if the time would come when there are no abortions -- however, in an imperfect world, that isn't going to happen very soon, if ever. Making abortion illegal is a shortcut to the desired result that will only drive the problem underground and leave many women in difficult situations without much help available.

The even bigger trouble, with dealing with abortion as though it were the issue, is that there are issues that affect millions of people that aren't then considered. By contrast, abortion affects comparatively few people in any given year.

Consider war. It's been centuries since there has been a time when there wasn't a war somewhere in the world. It's all but impossible to comprehend the suffering wars have brought to millions of families through the ages. Our current president wouldn't be where he is today if many in West Virginia as well as in other states hadn't voted for him because he favored outlawing abortion without considering how he might react in an emergency. As a result, think of how many people have died in Iraq and the United States as a result of this war. And even more will live out the rest of their lives with various disabilities.

The news of recent weeks has shown that our financial structure is an important issue. I can remember the crash of 1929 and the depression that followed. As a result, some very important rules were established to prevent such an event from happening again. Some who felt those rules too restrictive have finally gotten many of them repealed. As a result many people have lost their homes, others are in danger of losing their live savings. It's necessary then that we become as informed as possible so we can vote for those best able to deal with issue.

The United States spends more on health care than ………………………..

Harry W. Palmer - Palmer, of Charleston, is a retired Presbyterian minister.

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