5 posts tagged “election”
As the primary season finally starts to wind down, I've been thinking a lot about the argument over Florida's Democratic delegates. As a former Florida voter who came away feeling that my vote wouldn't be counted, I can't help but come to a depressing conclusion.
The rights of individual voters will always be sacrificed to party politics.
It wasn't the individual Democratic voters of Florida who demanded that the Florida primary be moved up. It was the Florida Democratic Party. As for the Democratic National Committee, they were so eager to punish the Florida Democratic Party that they didn't mind punishing every single Democratic voter in the state.
For those of you living in states where your primary/caucus vote will count, just remember that it could happen to you, too, because your vote doesn't matter. The DNC doesn't care about your vote. (Neither does the RNC.) You're nothing to them, except for that one instant where you can be of service to their goals. Right now, Hillary is all hot to have the Florida votes included, while Obama opposes it, but let's not kid ourselves. If Obama had won the Florida primary vote, he'd support inclusion while Hillary lobbied for exclusion.
Hillary and Obama don't give a damn about your right to vote unless you're voting for them. Your vote is dog shit on the bottoms of their shoes. When this election cycle is over, they'll just throw those shitty shoes away and your opinion with them. A month later they won't even remember they stepped in it.
This post brought to you by my complete and utter lack of hope.
Mitt "Goodhair" Romney just bowed out of the Republican primary race, which officially means there's no point in me going to my caucus on Saturday. Oh, sure, I can go and cast a futile little vote for Smuckabee or Ru Paul, but it's pretty clear who's going to end up with the nomination. Looks like McCain's suckupitude to the Bush Family Evil Empire paid off.
UPDATE: Mike Huckabee's campaign just called me to invite me to a pre-caucus breakfast! How can I say no to free donuts? Hell, maybe I'll even go vote for him if the donuts are good.
Here I am in my role as political saboteur and I don't quite know how to feel or what to do.
I've been registered as a Republican my entire life for two reasons: I was raised by Abraham Lincoln Republicans, and the Democratic Primary/Caucus in Kansas has historically been meaningless. (As discussed here.) I am still registered as a Republican, again for two reasons: The Democratic Caucus in Kansas is meaningless and I am a coward.
At any rate, I feel like a coward, because the reason I didn't switch parties in time to caucus with the Democrats is that I didn't want to have to choose. As I predicted earlier, the only Democratic candidates that I actively liked would already be out of the race by the time February 5th rolled around. Today confirms it. Joe Biden and Dennis Kucinich have long been out of the running--were in fact never really in it--but now John Edwards is bowing out. So, as I knew would happen, come next Tuesday, Democrats in Kansas will end up caucusing for the two front runners. I don't actively dislike Obama or Hillary (and isn't it interesting that she will always be Hillary, because when I type Clinton I can't think of anything but Bill?) I just don't have a great deal of confidence that either of them will a.) resoundingly win the general election* or b.) accomplish any meaningful change if they were to manage a win.
In short, I want what Bartcop calls a pony**. I want a dream candidate. I want the impossible. On the plus side, I know I'm not going to get it. So, as a pony-wanting coward, I will go to the polls in November, hold my nose, and vote for whoever wins the Democratic nomination. Whoever. Even if a surprise Democratic Convention turns the nomination over to Hitler with Cobras for Arms.***
On February 9th, though, I've got another decision to make, when I caucus with my fellow Republicans. Which Republican candidate to vote for? The goal is to vote for the one with the least chance of winning against Hillary or Obama. So I clearly cannot choose the John McCain in front of me****. I'm leaning toward a vote for Mike Huckabee, because he's a fucking nutjob. He's like an Impressionist painting. He looks okay from a distance, but get too close and you can tell his shit is all fucked up. He has some crazy ideas that will appeal to that special segment of America that believes everything in the Bible is literally and historically true. To the rest of Americans, though, I suspect his wackiness will make him non-viable come November. I wish Fred Thompson were still in the race, because I'd vote for him knowing he would lose interest and wander away before the general election.
So, that's my dilemma? Who to vote for in the Republican caucus?
Appendix A
* Why don't I think Hillary or Obama have a good chance of winning in the general election? Because I have not seen much lately that reassures me the average American is honestly ready to vote for a woman or a black man. Is that pessimistic and negative of me? Yes, but I still feel that way. Am I going to vote for a woman or a black man? You bet your goddamn bippy I am, but I happen to be a radical liberal who really does believe in equality. I'm not convinced that the majority of America is with me. (And since we'll still be crippled by the Electoral College come November, it wouldn't really matter if the majority of America were with me.)
**Bartcop happens to believe that Obama is a pony. He thinks Obama is an impractical, pie-in-the-sky dreamer. I think Obama is just your basic politician, no less pragmatic or more pony-like than Hillary.
***Why am I so virulently opposed to voting Republican in November? Because Bush didn't fuck this country up by himself. He had the help of the Republican political machine, all its back pocket lobbyists, its ideologues, its little and mid-range politicos, its media dogs, its fundraisers, and its cronies. If another Republican president is elected, a goodly portion of that machine will remain in place, doing what it does best--fucking the average American over. It's like that old joke about Hell: I don't have a great deal of faith that a Democratic president (and the Democratic machine) can extricate us from the Pit of Shit we're standing in, but maybe we don't have to stand on our heads in the Pit of Shit for the next eight years.
****I've been asked a few times what I have against John McCain, who has frequently been cited by undecided or independent voters as someone they would vote for over Hillary. My answer is rather handily summed up in this photo:
As I've mentioned, I like Dennis Kucinich. His platform comes the closest to resembling where I think America needs to go. That said, I have no delusions of the likelihood of him winning. This is a guy I laugh at every time I see him. A guy who makes me think of the elven jockeys who threaten Homer Simpson in the Saddlesore Galactica episode.
I don't know why, but I couldn't find the video in English, but the jockeys are singing, "Your horse must lose!"
I love what Kucinich stands for and if I weren't married, I'd have a fullblown nerd-crush on him. He does not, however, look presidential to mainstream America.
So, what happens when John Edwards starts talking like Dennis Kucinich?
Could it be an populist candidate with mainstream support? John Edwards recently said some stuff that sounds suspiciously like something Kucinich would say.
The system in Washington is rigged and our government is broken.
[The system is] controlled by big corporations, the lobbyists they hire to protect their bottom line and the politicians who curry their favor and carry their water.
We cannot replace a group of corporate Republicans with a group of corporate Democrats, just swapping the Washington insiders of one party for the Washington insiders of the other.
They will not give up their power - you have to take it from them.
For more than 20 years, Democrats have talked about universal health care, and for more than 20 years, we've gotten nowhere, because lobbyists for the big insurance companies, drug companies and HMOs spent millions to block real reform.
Wow. Did John wake up on the left side of the bed this morning? Of course, I don't really think Edwards is ready to be president, but he'd make a promising vice president. Just a thought...too bad the government stole from us the right to elect the two separately.
I'm now engaging in what will surely become a Florida tradition: I'm looking over my absentee ballot and using the internet to research my voting choices. After the 2000 election, and the promise of Diebold president, Wally O'Dell "to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the President," it's not hard to get a little paranoid about who controls the election.
http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2004/03/03_200.html
Everybody's favorite Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin is frequently credited with having said that the voters decide nothing, while the vote counters decide everything. Regardless of whether he actually said it, it is painfully true, particularly if the vote-counters have put themselves in a position to easily conceal the true count. If you're a resident of Hillsborough County and have not yet requested an absentee ballot, there's still plenty of time. Consider that the voting machines in Hillsborough County are electronic, touch screen systems that produce NO PAPER RECORD of your vote, and then go visit the elections supervisor's website to request your absentee ballot.
http://www.votehillsborough.org/items.aspx?id=84
If you live somewhere else that is using a paperless voting system, I recommend that you find out how to request your absentee ballot. It's easy to dismiss all this talk of voting machine tampering as paranoia, but wouldn't you rather be safe than disenfranchised?
