It’s really too bad that some people threaten elected officials and their families for the votes the member of Congress made.  We live in a crazy world and just when you think it can’t any worse, it does by leaps and bounds.  It’s no wonder we don’t have the best and brightest seeking elective office these days.

Yes, there are idiots in this world who, undoubtedly, failed to listen to their parents (or the parents failed to teach them) to use their words instead of fists or guns or rocks to get their point across.

When rocks are thrown through windows or the windows are shot out and vulgar voice messages are left on elected officials’ office phones or on their home phones, it sends a terrible message to our young people.  I imagine the mothers of these callers would be proud.

When windows are broken and other things are vandalized, it’s not really the member of Congress who has to pay, it’s the private citizen who leases the office space to the member of Congress.  The private citizen will sometimes have to pay higher insurance rates or have their insurance canceled altogether just because some idiot wanted to make a point against a member of Congress.  Also, the taxpayers are paying for the lease.

Maybe the idiot should just throw a rock through his/her own window?

On the other hand, it’s foolish for members of Congress to speak out or announce they were vandalized to get some public attention.  We all know that elected officials crave public attention and try their best to get it.  Sadly, they fan the flames and create a gotcha mentality when they start announcing that someone shot a hole in the window or left a nasty message on their voice mail.  They should just shut up, notify the proper authorities and let the professionals handle it.

It’s really easy to have your voice heard these days – start a blog, write a letter to the editor, start a Facebook Page, sign up for a Twitter account, or volunteer for a candidate you like.

But after more than 200 years, the most important thing we can do in this country is register and vote – and that will make the ultimate difference.