Osler's Razor

Yes. For all it will matter, which is little, because too many here vote straight party ticket R. I have friends on both sides of the ballot most elections, and don't vote for the unopposed unless I know enough to endorse them.

The entire system needs to be changed to get rid of gerrymandering and safe seats, remove party labels from the ballot and end one-click straight party voting, etc. If the party cannot educate the voters about their candidates, those candidates should not win solely on the basis of party affiliation!
 

That's the conventional wisdom, but it doesn't always match the numbers. It will be interesting to see how things play out in November, but one thing we can be sure of: the media will make it a circus more about lining their own pockets than creating an informed class of voters.
 

The voting booth is the people's lobby. When the powerful, acting in their best interests, can create so much misinformation and sway so many voters the only way for the public interest to be served would be to withhold your vote for any candidate that doesn't decry and disown outside campaign money. It would be hard for either party to go first. Voters will have to act.
I believe that a campaign could be launched that asks voters to vote for candidates that accept no help from outside interests regardless of party. We are at a critical time when special interests are dominating the conversation and critical public interests are not addressed and difficult decisions are not made.
The only cure for this country's lack of focus on real problems and real solutions is to rid ourselves from the influence of those who have only their narrow interests at heart. We should demand candidates who are responsible only to the people.
We have to become outraged that we continue to elect public officials who enter office owing less to the voters than to their wealthy backers, and then exit very rich and satisfied.

I get 5 to 6 emails a day asking for money to offset the money coming into the other party. I am offended. They can earn my vote by their actions. My great grandchildren will live in a world created by the decisions we make in this year's election. A ton of money will be spent to protect industries and politicians who protect them. When you see the money vote against it for the sake of our great grandchildren.
 

Yes, I will vote, but since my Congressional District is gerrymandered to produce a Democratic win, no matter who is on the ballot, my vote won't have an impact. Not that I really object to the likely Democratic nominee or care for the GOP candidate, it's just that so few House Districts are actually in play.

 

I will vote, but mostly so I can vote against Wendy Davis (because it will make my sister mad) and for Karen Matkin (because it will make crazy Republicans in Waco mad). But, who cares about that. LANE IS BACK!!!! Ahhh, man, I just rolled a tear....
 

Lane and RRL, back where they belong… locked in mortal combat.
 

Also, IPLG is 100% right about a core problem in our federal political system today.
 

Yes, I will vote. I always do and always will. And yes, it will matter. It always does and always will.

Someone commented:

"I believe that a campaign could be launched that asks voters to vote for candidates that accept no help from outside interests regardless of party."

Result: Only the well heeled could afford to run.

Someone else commented:

"The entire system needs to be changed to get rid of gerrymandering and safe seats, remove party labels from the ballot box and end one-click straight party voting, etc"

Result: A little inconvenience, but with pre-printed election materials replicating ballots and indicating the parties' choices, the effect would be insignificant.

Someone commented:

"A ton of money will be spent to protect industries and politicians who protect them. When you see the money vote against it for the sake of our great grandchildren."

Well yes, and a ton of money will be spent to fight industries as well. If we choose to vote only for candidates who cannot raise money, even in the unlikely event one should win-it happens-the likelihood is that he/she will prove to be ineffective, except in those rare situations where the parties are evenly divided in a legislative body, and a "maverick" decides an issue. His/her vote, however, would be "up for grabs," and there is no way to insure that he/she will not be subject to the same "undue" influence we tend to think our political opponents are always under.

My view is that we have the ballot. For better or worse, it should be used at every opportunity.

Utopia is not in the wings. Should it come, a harbinger will be the diminution of vilification of those who disagree with us. Anybody know how to bring this about?




 

I vote in mid-terms and primaries and every single election I am allowed to vote in because of what the playwright Tony Kushner said in a commencement speech years ago: "You are always an agent. When you don't act, you act. When you don't vote, you vote. When you accept the loony logic of some of the left that there is no political value in supporting the lesser of two evils, you open the door to the greater evil."
 

I think the right to vote is a privilege, the reason it should never be taken for granted. For a few years I only had a Green Card and while a permanent resident of the US has all the obligations of a citizen and most of the rights, the right to vote is not one. It was a very “funny” feeling to be excluded like that. Even in Romania where Ceausescu and his cohort always “won” the elections, I went to vote…it felt good to mark a NO to all, even if it truly had no consequence. It felt a lot better to at least have that “right” instead of being told “never mind” Tony Kushner summed it well. Imagine if you were not allowed to vote at all…women in Switzerland only had the right to vote in 1971!?