I love Halloween. Halloween is everything it’s purported to be – people dressing up and acting like anyone (or anything), as long as they aren’t themselves. Halloween gives one carte’blanche to explore another side of our psyche and questionably grants us to right spew our own version of truth and wisdom without jeopardizing reputation, morals, or more important, sanity. Ok, I went a little too far with that one but for us Halloweeners, we get it.

However, for some, Creepy night isn't limited to one night of the year. Take for instance Valeria Lukyanova. The Russian born model has earned the moniker, the Living Barbie. Her physical body is so close to that of the famous Mattel icon that you’d bet money she was a Photoshop fake. But she is real.

Lukyanova has become a Facebook sensation of sorts, achieved, in my opinion, by her glassy stare, plastic-like face and extremely un-natural shape. When it comes to freedom of expression, I’m pretty liberal but to be honest, she gives me the creeps. There has to be something mentally wrong with a person who would go to such extremes to be someone they are not.

But who am I to judge? I bleach my hair every three weeks and just about every night before bed, I down 4 coconut popsicles and half of bag of Dove dark chocolate. To each his own - right?

Well, not quite. When it comes to politicians the line must be drawn. Facts must outweigh personal ideology and truth must prevail over fiction. Of course, it wouldn’t hurt to have some inkling of what the position entails. Eating fried chicken, shaking hands, and promising to change the way an office, agency or other government body is managed doesn’t mean you can make it happen. In most circumstances, that ideology should announce a candidate’s death knell. In reality, knowledge of the position should be the foundation of a candidate’s platform - way before his campaign even launches.

However, if a candidate chooses to bypass this rather essential piece of the process but is still elected, his decision to do so will shine as bright as Grand pappy’s polished spittoon. It doesn’t take long to detect who probably sat in less than two meetings or "accidentally" forgot to read the policy and procedures manual before parking their rear-ends in the big chair.

But guess what? We elected them. And in some instances, we keep electing them. Why? Well, that’s the $64 trillion dollar question. Has Williamsburg County become a citizenry plagued with political apathy? Has the political arena become so tainted with lies and corruption that we have lost all hope, therefore relinquishing our moral responsibility to vote?

It’s a fact that Williamsburg County voters are notorious for not showing up at the polls. And of those who do, some cast their vote based entirely on their political affiliation or worse, word-of-mouth.

What happened to voting for the most plausible candidate? I'm willing to bet if we would demonstrate a little more prudence in our quest for the best, candidates may be more inclined to tone down their bold narrative rather than run the risk of defending their integrity smack dab in the middle of the campaign. In seeking the truth, we may even prevent a fatal error from occurring in the voting booth; thus securing true leadership rather than a costumed, inept version toting a big bag of illusive tricks but lacking in intellectual treats.