Election Day!

[xtimmiex]

Americans, don't forget to go out and vote for your local congressmen, and U.S. senators! :)

[mgoetze]

Americans, don't forget to go out and vote for your local congressmen, and U.S. senators! :)

 

Why, do they really deserve any votes?

[matmat]

Best thing about voting day is that all the irritating, annoying, obnoxious, stupid, idiotic, retarded, etc. etc. political campaign ads end.

[Phil]

Some interesting ballot measures in the Golden State today.

[PassedOut]

Best thing about voting day is that all the irritating, annoying, obnoxious, stupid, idiotic, retarded, etc. etc. political campaign ads end.

Wow, we got a ridiculous number of robo-calls this year from both major parties! As I understand it, the law exempts these political calls from the no-call list. I don't mind talking to a real person now and then, but I'd really like to have a way to stop the robo-calls.

[Phil]

Wow, we got a ridiculous number of robo-calls this year from both major parties! As I understand it, the law exempts these political calls from the no-call list. I don't mind talking to a real person now and then, but I'd really like to have a way to stop the robo-calls.

 

You still have a land line? Is it kept on top of the Betamax by chance? :P

[PassedOut]

You still have a land line? Is it kept on top of the Betamax by chance? :P

Yep, still one business land line, down from five (no Betamax though). ;)

[kenberg]

Yes I voted. After voting we stopped for lunch at the local Mexican place and they were giving discounts to those sporting an "I voted" sticker.

 

I had enjoyable chats with the folks outside who were promoting specific candidates and in fact changed my decision about one of the county council candidates as a result. My wife had a chat with one of our neighbors who was outside and pushing a school board candidate. This particular candidate must have slept through grammar class. It surprises me how many of the candidates for the minor offices apparently do not have anyone proof-read the material that they hand out.

 

Voting was a pleasure and I am thinking that later today I may return and do it again.

[kenberg]

As Phil notes below, this post orignally was somehow a repeat of the above post. How, I dunno. Huh!

[Phil]

 

Voting was a pleasure and I am thinking that later today I may return and do it again.

 

Ironic you chose to double post this :P

[PassedOut]

It surprises me how many of the candidates for the minor offices apparently do not have anyone proof-read the material that they hand out.

Yes, you might think they'd have someone (maybe of the elite class) read that stuff over before letting it out of their hands.

 

Still, I have often been amazed and disgusted by the blatant errors in resumes people send out when job-hunting -- when you'd think they'd try to look good. So I guess office seekers treat their campaign literature with the same attitude. But for the school board? No wonder we're in trouble.

[Bbradley62]

Best thing about voting day is that all the irritating, annoying, obnoxious, stupid, idiotic, retarded, etc. etc. political campaign ads end.

Except if you live in a run-off state, although we may avoid that this time.

[Aberlour10]

Watching several election reports at the german political channel at the moment...a special one about pre-election days on FOX TV. Fascinating and terryfing to see how Murdochs propaganda machine works. I see that there are people who belive this bull sh** after watching it 100 times, its normal....but so many millions?

[luke warm]

Watching several election reports at the german political channel at the moment...a special one about pre-election days on FOX TV. Fascinating and terryfing to see how Murdochs propaganda machine works. I see that there are people who belive this bull sh** after watching it 100 times, its normal....but so many millions?

any particular bullshit you're speaking of?

[awm]

Interesting that California seems to be once again bucking the national trend.

 

Jerry Brown (democrat for governor) and Barbara Boxer (senate) both won by larger than expected margins, despite massive amounts of money spent against them and the supposed Republican wave.

 

According to CNN there are two "too close to call" house races both involving democrat incumbents in heavily republican areas, and every other incumbent (of either party) has won despite the supposed anti-incumbent mood.

[kenberg]

Here in Maryland it seems that also the mood is "Start the revolution without me". Martin O'Malley, the dem gov, was easily re-elected. Same for Barbara Mikulski, aka SenatorBarb. Ditto Steny Hoyer.

 

Nationally, of course, it's a different story. Listening to Rand Paul it's hard to see how he and Barack Obama could agree on the time of day. After an election it is popular to speak of working together, but when people live in two entirely different worlds this may not be possible, however well-intended the effort. I always hope to be wrong in my pessimism but I don't foresee much progress on any serious issues for the next two years. The country has made a mistake. Either electing Barack Obama was a mistake or else electing Rand Paul et al was a mistake. I think it's the latter, but at least one of these actions was a mistake. It's like an auction 1♠-2♠-4♠-6♠. It's hard to see how all of those bids are right.

[luke warm]

well one thing's for sure - the reports (hopes?) that the republican party was dead (many on these forums said much the same) after 2008 were premature... i also think the tea party is more than a novelty... it wouldn't surprise me to see it come close to taking over the republican party by '12... it simply needs to come together and to agree on a platform that makes sense without alienating so many... one way to do that is to separate personal beliefs from governmental policies... take for example gay marriage - simply take no stand on it from a national perspective... leave it up to the states, don't work for abolishing it nationally... same for any number of things... almost everyone understands that the stronger the central gov't the less liberty the people have, almost everyone thinks taxes are high enough/too high, almost everyone understands that the constitution was written by people with a vision different from the one held by most of today's politicians, almost everyone understands that entrepreneurs create jobs, not the gov't ... focus on these things and leave the social issues to local politics

[kenberg]

When this issue of government restricting our freedoms comes up I always wonder just what the person has in mind doing. Fifty years ago I rode a motorcycle without a helmet. I took a bad spill and went out and bought a helmet. Now the gov says I have to have one. And of course I drive a car now. Where I live I think I cannot have a goat in the backyard. I don't want one. Also no chickens. Fresh eggs would be nice, but still, I can live with the restrictions. I have to go through security at airports, and once they confiscated a wrench that I forgot was in my backpack. All things considered, it's OK by me.

 

Chatting at the polls yesterday with local candidates, I raised the issue of walking about. There is a sort of downtown area about three miles away and a while back I decided to walk instead of drive. On a good part of the way a guy takes his life in his hands, walking on a narrow to non-existent shoulder as the cars whiz by. More sidewalks and bicycle paths would be very welcome. But that's local. At the federal level I really have no idea of just what I want to do that big government prohibits.

 

 

Taxes:

If (Big If, certainly) my tax dollars are used well, I have no problem with forking over the cash.

Getting the cash to the intended target w/o too much seepage is indeed a problem.

[luke warm]

When this issue of government restricting our freedoms comes up I always wonder just what the person has in mind doing.

do i take this to mean that you disagree when i wrote, "almost everyone understands that the stronger the central gov't the less liberty the people have?"

[kenberg]

Yes, I think I disagree. I don't see a strong government as necessarily inimical to personal freedom. It can be so, of course. But in my own experience I have seldom or never come to a point of "I would really like to do X but the government won't allow it". Of course there might be the occasional person whom I would like to shoot, but really I don't think I would do so even if it were permitted. I would soon run out of partners if I acted on such desires.

[PassedOut]

almost everyone thinks taxes are high enough/too high, almost everyone understands that the constitution was written by people with a vision different from the one held by most of today's politicians, almost everyone understands that entrepreneurs create jobs, not the gov't

Over time, taxes need to be at the level needed to support federal spending, not more, not less. I would be happy to pay lower taxes, but only if the spending is cut first. Set the spending (even if I don't agree with it), then set the taxes. Responsible voters take this position. The free lunch crowd does not.

 

I agree (necessarily) that entrepreneurs create jobs, but don't get what people mean (if anything) by saying that the government does not create jobs. Highway construction, for example, is just one example of government creating jobs. I thought that the contrary position was only taken by folks, such as Sharron Angle, who are manifestly fools.

[luke warm]

Yes, I think I disagree. I don't see a strong government as necessarily inimical to personal freedom. It can be so, of course. But in my own experience I have seldom or never come to a point of "I would really like to do X but the government won't allow it". Of course there might be the occasional person whom I would like to shoot, but really I don't think I would do so even if it were permitted. I would soon run out of partners if I acted on such desires.

i think history shows that the stronger the central gov't becomes the less freedom the people have... maybe i'm wrong here, but i believe you can come up with many examples that i'm not, if you try...

I thought that the contrary position was only taken by folks, such as Sharron Angle, who are manifestly fools.

what makes them "manifestly fools?" is it simply that they disagree with you?

[helene_t]

I would soon run out of partners if I acted on such desires.

Uh-oh I sleep better since the IAC league has ended .....

[PassedOut]

what makes them "manifestly fools?" is it simply that they disagree with you?

No, it is that they say things like "the government does not create jobs," which are manifestly foolish.

[kenberg]

i think history shows that the stronger the central gov't becomes the less freedom the people have... maybe i'm wrong here, but i believe you can come up with many examples that i'm not, if you try...

 

Well, in the mid-sixties my student deferment was revoked and I was reclassified 1-A. In such circumstances one might well free constrained. Ugly as that all was, I don't think I would advocate a total ban on a military draft, now and forevermore. Restraint in going to war would be nice though.

 

Generally, my complaints about the government are pretty pale compared to my perception of benefits. I went to the University of Minnesota in the late fifties for about $250 a year in tuition. That's for example. I really find it much easier to think of these good examples of government programs than to think of how I have been stifled.

 

Before we throw the metaphorical baby out with the bath water I really think people should give some thought to their own lives, how they have been helped and how they have been hurt by government programs.

 

Going back to the local, if one of the candidates for county commissioner had run on a platform of more sidewalks and bike paths, he would have had my vote, be he democrat or republican. He could belong to The Tea Party or the Communist Party. He could even raise my taxes to pay for it.

 

Business folks may well have some legit complaints about paperwork. I lack the experience to say much here. But then: Recently there was a public meeting about a planned business park. One poor sap lives across the street from the location and was really hoping the planned gas station/convenience store could be reined in a little. I think he got some restriction imposed along the lines of requiring that the sign could only be twenty feet tall and the lighting had to be turned off by 3AM. If a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged, a regulator may be a free-market enthusiast who now lives across the street from a new business park.