When I believe in candidates and their political views I invest in their campaigns. There are also times when I disagree with candidates on specific policies, but still make a donation of time and/or money based upon our friendship and my belief in them as a person.
I have a friend who won a seat on his hometown city council. Our friendship began in college when we worked together in student government. We sometimes found that we disagreed, philosophically, on policy related issues that impacted the people that we represented.
However, he has gained my support through experiences we have had as friends. I respect his ability to seek advice from people in his decision-making process. He is confident about his ability to make good decisions and is not afraid to fail. As a leader, he focuses on goals and works hard for results. We have these characteristics in common. His city council election was important to me because I wanted to see my friend, a person I
strongly believe in, succeed in fulfilling his goal of being a public servant.
I will also donate to a political campaign when I do not know the
candidate but believe in his/her policies. I am an advocate for our business community. I support policy issues that enable our community to flourish by creating more jobs. I donated to a candidate running for the California state legislature who shares these views. I have a desire to see him win because he will apply our shared philosophies when voting for laws that impact my community. He believes in opposing new taxes. The political climate in our state assembly is heating up when it comes to supporting new taxes. I believe increasing taxes will deter business growth in our state therefore limited job creation. Electing representatives who will oppose new taxes is vital to the success of our businesses and creating more jobs for our citizenry.
My belief in the person and his/her ability to succeed is important in my decision to donate to his/her political campaign. Working closely with my friend in college enabled me to establish a relationship and learn more about him. Through active participation in local government I was able to donate to a candidate who shared my views on certain policies. Building relationships and participating in the political process are the two key factors that influence my investment in candidates.