I was finally able to meet a political candidate face-to-face — and I was honest, brutally so

A few weeks ago, as I was preparing to shower before starting my tutoring sessions, the doorbell rang. I figured that it was probably an Amazon delivery and ignored it.

Then, there was a knock at the door, and I decided to answer it.

Let me preface this by saying that since this is the first time that I have voted in a general election in this district, I investigated all of the candidates thoroughly. The ones for governor were familiar, but some others were not.

I found that the congressman for this district still believes that Joe Biden did not win the 2020 election. Now, I have a target for criticism.

He, along with the others, I did not know.

The introduction

However, when I pulled open the door slightly, the person introduced himself and said that he was running for a state legislative office. I did not know him, but I had looked at his platform.

Indeed, this was actually the candidate.

He gave his name and the office that he was running for in Pennsylvania, and then handed me a flier for the doorknob.

I politely refused and said, “No thanks. I am not voting for you.”

He said, “Okay.”

However, instead of leaving it at that, he went a step further — and probably wished that he had not.

He said, “Do you mind telling me why you are not voting for me?”

That was something he should not have asked.

I was brutally honest, saying,“I really, really do not like you.”

His answer, “Oh.”

I then shut the door.

In truth, this was not something personal, but I had looked at his platform. He did not provide a good reason for me to take him seriously, and in many cases, he angered me.

So, when I said that I did not like him, it was because of his policies, which I believe were horrible.

I later went back through them, and again realized that I did not approve of this man as a candidate, and perhaps I should not have been that blunt with him.

However, since he had disturbed my day, I was maybe more brutally honest than I would have been.

In truth, I should have gone after him and outlined why I disagreed with the policies, but I did not have the time — nor the desire — to do so.

Let me give you an example. If a person running for office in Pennsylvania truly cares about the people, he or she must do something about the woeful minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. People cannot live on that wage and have to work two or three jobs to make ends meet.

This guy would not support an increase in that. And while he talks about making life better, most of his ideas are just generalities, not specifics.

That would not help me since I have not been paid the minimum wage since my high school years.

The Opponent

In reality, I do not like his opponent either. I would ordinarily not vote for him, but he has supported some positive policies, albeit while failing to provide leadership in Harrisburg.

I could go on about the congressional candidates, but that is another story for another time.