Perhaps it’s sugar overload in our diets, polluted air and water, or a simple de-evolution of American society, because it appears that you and I, each day,  slip further from clarity.

It matters not which side of a political fence that you or I sit or straddle. Rigidity has seized the moment and clouded our ability to see beyond the now.

While an essence of strength or fear is in the seed of every philosophical approach to life, how that seed is nurtured is how that seed will manifest.

Feed the seed with indifference and neglect, and that is how it will grow and reseed itself  — empty, uncaring, and self-serving for its own survival.  Coddle the seed in fear, and it may never see the day’s light. Watch it cower at the flutter of every passing winged being and build walls and spew bullets of poison. Decline a learning stake as a seed grows, and watch it become unruly and ignorant of its potential.

I sense this is how our society has produced politicians who speak in bumper sticker phrases, and convince voters that he/she is actually saying something of substance.  I sense this is how voters recoil with weapons of war in the false fear of conspiratorial fiction. I sense this is why voters no longer speak with grace or dignity and, consequently, grovel in assumptions and presumptive soils.

Democracies are a tough business.  Democracies are experiments in freedom and the goal to grasp all that is good in life for all members of that society. Democracies require education. Democracies require cognitive thinking.  Democracies demand clarity.

In this election year, 2016, it is imperative that every voter quest clarity.  Voters will or have picked their side of the political arena. And you voters fraught with righteous anger, demand straight answers from each and every candidate.  Demand clarity.

What do you want to see for your children’s future?  What is your perception for their children, and the children that will follow for generations?

What happens if your candidate in this pre-election season does not become one of the two final nominees for POTUS?  Will your demonizing of the other candidate in your party of choice become fuel for the opposing side? (Yes it will!)  Will you stomp your feet and sulk back to your room and refuse to vote and possibly lose everything within your vision for all of those generations of humans who will carry on with your genes?

Yes, make your case for the person you believe best fits within your view of the ongoing job of nurturing democracy’s seed.  Remember, your social media, cocktail party, and casual discussion voice does nothing to feed the seed of your democracy vision without your vote.  It’s as simple as clarity.