Straight Democratic ticket, of course. This year's crop of Republicans here in California was especially horrific, whether it was the witches who laid off tens of thousands of workers while giving themselves raises of hundreds of millions of dollars, or the school board candidate who called for eliminating public education, or whatever, they were lame, lame, lame. And sad to say, mathematics (the 50%+1 barrier) says that a vote for a third party is basically a vote for whoever won the rest of the votes, because what would be a coalition of smaller parties in a parliamentary system is a part of a larger coalition party like the Democratic Party in a first-past-the-pole system, so... (shrug). Democrats were "it".
As for the ballot propositions, I never did finish that series, but you can pretty much look at the ones I didn't cover and figure out how I probably voted on them.
By tomorrow evening I'll have my posting on the Republican strategy for victory, how it worked, and why it is disaster for America. Because they aren't going to stop doing what they're doing. What are they doing? Uhm.... tune in tomorrow evening for that one, yo.
-- Badtux the Political Penguin
Disaster is a matter of degree. I can't say I see many degrees of difference on the federal level, apart from rhetoric. They've said what they needed to get elected, and now they'll go to DC & do whatever the hell they want, the bailout being the classic example.
ReplyDeleteThat means democracy is broken on the federal level. The system and how they manipulate it means they are no longer accountable. It's going to take more than voting to change that.
This or that party can still make a difference on the local level, though. But I just can't see the point of worrying too much about DC. I'm sure they mean well, but that whole restore sanity thing is just a bigass waste of time.
We need to get the money out of politics, that will reduce the power of the parties and allow the Reps.&Sens. to vote their conscience(if they have one). The way it is now, all politicians regardless of party have to pretty much toe the party line(more so on the right than the left) or lose funding for their campaigns. Also we need to eliminate the preprosporous idea that corporations are people.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, Georgia has the same 50%+1 rule. That is a good argument for instant runoff voting. It would save a lot of money if they don't have to hold another election for a runoff.
All indications are that voter turnout is unexpectedly high. That gives me a bit of forlorn hope, since the alleged enthusiasm gap allegedly favore alleged Rethugs.
ReplyDeleteBut my pessimism is such that even the faintest glimmer of hope is welcome. I feel that the nation is standing at the edge of an abyss. Will we plunge, headlong, into nihilism, or take a step back to live another election cycle?
You guys who think there is no difference are flat ass wrong. If Rethugs sweep, there will be a disaster of Great Depression/WW II proportions.
WASF!
JzB
I voted last month, even though we had to drive1,000 km to San Francisco and pop into the elections office in the basement of City Hall to do so. (Not as daunting as it seems, since we had other reasons to be in town anyway.) As international exiles, we only got to vote on the two federal races, nothing local. As much as I don't like voting for incumbents or established parties, I HAD to cast my ballot for Boxer, because that job-stealing beyotch Fiorina MUST be stopped.
ReplyDeleteI hope your cancer holds off long enough for you to have a few years of regrets over how many lives you ruined, Carly. How are your filthy millions doing at buying off Mr. Death, eh? I had a patient about your age the other night, breast CA as a primary, metastasized to the bones, as it often does. Incredible pain! I was happy to give her the scheduled Oxycontin 40 mg. and a few breakthough injections of Dilaudid 2 mg. subcut. I'd do the same for you, Carly, and just as quickly as I did for this unfortunate lady. But I'd be sneering as soon as I turned my back on you.
As for worrying about D.C., DopeAddict, I'd advise being worried. The Repukes can make things MUCH worse than the ball-less Democraps. Bush drove the car off the cliff, Obama said "Step on the gas to keep doing exactly what Bush was doing, only faster, and maybe we can sail across the gap to hit the other side!" but Orange Boner is going to say "Point the car straight down to the bottom of the canyon and kick everybody out of the back seat. We'll get so light when they fall to their deaths that those of us in the front seat will just float up to heaven!"
While the American power structure spends the next two years fighting about impeaching Hopey for his fake birth certificate or somesuch bullshit, the American money system will fall apart. Millions of more people are going to find that they don't have jobs, houses or food. The U.S. dollar is going to become worthless. And as Gerald Celente said, "When people have lost everything, they lose it." Look for more mass shootings, anarchic violence and system collapse coming soon to a country near me.
Bukko has it all right except the dollar.
ReplyDeleteWe're fucked.
JzB
I continue to expect the dollar to be debauched, Jazz. One area in which I agree with the Teabaggers, although for different reasons, is that official actions are going to destroy the U.S. currency. Not because of federal government budget deficits, but because of reckless Federal Reserve money-printing. Quantitative Easing II will be announced after the election. Creation of maybe $1 trillion of "money" that will be exchanged for worthless crap like bankster's fraudbonds. The U.S. dollar is now resting on a foundation of bogus mortgage-backed securities and similar garbage. You've probably heard of Gresham's Law, "bad money drives out the good." It's usually applied to situations where there is rampant counterfeiting, but it also applies to monetary systems with no real store of value under their currency. As the system keeps breaking down in the U.S., especially if there's a government shutdown, I think the rest of the world will lose confidence in the U.S. dollar and reject it.
ReplyDeleteThe only saving grace for the U.S. dollar is that most other major monetary systems are debauching their fiat money as fast as the U.S., especially China. It's all crap, man.
Thank you BadTux :)
ReplyDeleteI voted for all the women I could. Don't give a damn what party or platform they are running on.
ReplyDeleteThis system is FUBAR, you can't fix FUBAR. But you can put nothing but women in all government offices and then blame them for it all going to hell.
I wonder what a new America will look like, or if it will even be called America, maybe some of the states will decide to recede and form their own new country, I would not disapprove of that.
An idiots vote counts as much as mine, that needs to be corrected in the future.