Monday, October 18, 2010
I'll vote
I'm not about to abdicate my vote based on what Democrats do in Washington D.C. I care who my councilman, mayor, & county freeholders are. As a "civic duty," I was raised to value my vote in local elections, & had the value of that vote demonstrated on several occasions.
Obama twisted himself to invite cooperation from Repugs, to the point of alienating much of his left Democratic base. He received no cooperation & might as well have doubled the stim, as advised by Paul Krugman, who warned from start it was inadequate. Obama might as well have gone for a stronger health care reform, closer to what Hillary advocated in her platform. But Obama made other mistakes. Among them, he let the air out of the "Yes we can" balloon, & didn't act like he was enjoying being president. No matter how Bill Clinton was kicked around, Bill looked like there was no other job he'd rather have, which helped him with the Democratic base & independent voters despite all the "triangulating" he was forced to make to co-op Repub proposals.
Democrats will take a worse beating then they deserve in November. They did prop up the economy & they did save our auto industry & they did make progress on health reform. But they couldn't cut loose from Wall Street & connect with Main Street. They & the establishment Repugs were so in bed with Wall Street that the Tea Party emerged to do something (although the Tea Partiers are themselves co-opted now by the corporatists),
Democrats should have learned a year ago, from losing elections in Mass & Jersey, & winning campaigns in a number of special congressional elections that strong, decisive, unapologetic liberal candidates would have better chances than party hacks & weakened incumbents. There are many, many places in America where Democrats will lose only because Democrats & centrist independents are discouraged & won't vote in the favored numbers they hold in voter registrations. They'll lose offices they were lucky to win two years ago.
Obama twisted himself to invite cooperation from Repugs, to the point of alienating much of his left Democratic base. He received no cooperation & might as well have doubled the stim, as advised by Paul Krugman, who warned from start it was inadequate. Obama might as well have gone for a stronger health care reform, closer to what Hillary advocated in her platform. But Obama made other mistakes. Among them, he let the air out of the "Yes we can" balloon, & didn't act like he was enjoying being president. No matter how Bill Clinton was kicked around, Bill looked like there was no other job he'd rather have, which helped him with the Democratic base & independent voters despite all the "triangulating" he was forced to make to co-op Repub proposals.
Democrats will take a worse beating then they deserve in November. They did prop up the economy & they did save our auto industry & they did make progress on health reform. But they couldn't cut loose from Wall Street & connect with Main Street. They & the establishment Repugs were so in bed with Wall Street that the Tea Party emerged to do something (although the Tea Partiers are themselves co-opted now by the corporatists),
Democrats should have learned a year ago, from losing elections in Mass & Jersey, & winning campaigns in a number of special congressional elections that strong, decisive, unapologetic liberal candidates would have better chances than party hacks & weakened incumbents. There are many, many places in America where Democrats will lose only because Democrats & centrist independents are discouraged & won't vote in the favored numbers they hold in voter registrations. They'll lose offices they were lucky to win two years ago.
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"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
I am aware that by sitting out this (and possibly other) elections, I have to deal with local political fallout because of my non-vote. However, I do have the luxury of living in a very blue state, with not even a hint of turning purple, let alone, red. As a Californian, I have seen many Republican governors, and assorted state legislative Republicans, and that has not changed the political climate in California. I might have a different feeling if I lived in a state where my vote actually might matter. I've researched the issues on the ballot in my state, and the local stuff, and I have no problem in my belief that certain things will just turn out without my voting. Like, I'm pretty sure Brown/Boxer/Waxman will still be voted in. As for the court justices, we are liberal like a son of a bitch in the California court system, so I'm not worried about those candidates. Don't care who is Lt. Gov., Sec/State, Treasurer, or even AG. I do know some of the people in the local superior court judge races, two other very local races, but it really does not matter to me. As for the measures, it could go either way for Pop 19 (the pot one), and I'm somewhat confident that 23 will fail (we are not stupid in California, we know who is behind this prop).
Redistricting measures I might have a slight say in that, but I'm willing to just let that, at this point in time of my not enjoying politics enough to care. Probably the only measure on my ballot would be to change the manner in which the state legislature passes budget bills (wish it were more to the point to change how the legislature passes all bills, which is why we always have a budget crisis in CA, no matter who is governor).
Redistricting measures I might have a slight say in that, but I'm willing to just let that, at this point in time of my not enjoying politics enough to care. Probably the only measure on my ballot would be to change the manner in which the state legislature passes budget bills (wish it were more to the point to change how the legislature passes all bills, which is why we always have a budget crisis in CA, no matter who is governor).
I hear ya. My congressman doesn't need my vote. But my councilman does in the primary, where he's challenged by a Repug disguised as Democrat, part of the machine that runs the school board (as opposed to the machine that runs city hall).
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