Look for substance before going to polls

I have noticed at least 2 occasions during the current election season where an issue has been made of a candidate's supposed personal or financial problems, as if solely bad or inferior people have such problems. This lowbrow approach to campaigning wastes valuable time which could have been spent discussing the urgent issues in our regional and national life. Unfortunately, the number of people who have experienced a decrease in work hours, a job loss, or the need to take a job that was not part of our "plan," where we may be overqualified though need it to survive, is significant.

As if the inability to meet our families' needs is not enough, we also must decide if, when, and how to tell our family, friends, and colleagues of our misfortune and to possibly ask for financial or in-kind assistance. Further, some of us who are currently have jobs find ourselves with unexpected expenses including health-care bills, a mortgage that "adjusted" more rapidly than we anticipated, or having one person in a household not being able to work consistently due to military service, the need to care for children or the need to care for ailing relatives.

In recent months we've been witness to the fact that even people who are supposedly experts in their fields cannot plan for the highs and lows of life and cannot prevent the related upheaval. The fact that millions of Americans have lost their health insurance in the last 6-8 years, that it is harder to identify what we actually manufacture in the United States, and the fact that many well-known, "stable" companies are making massive layoffs if not closing rapidly, should remind us that it is substance that we should look for in candidates; people who carry or control the purse-strings of government.

We should look for people with relevant experience, who can and do strive to get along with people of diverse ethnic and philosophical backgrounds and people who have devoted a significant part of their lives to public service, to our community, social and religious organizations, and to living their lives without expressions of hatred, disdain and the like.

It is with this in mind that I will vote early, putting what I've gleaned from my education, my professional experience and my religious affiliation into practice by voting for the candidates that I believe are highly consistent with my family's goals, ideals and hopes for the future.

Marc Feldstein

Grayslake