Who I voted for
I know I said I was not going to vote for any presidential candidate, was going to skip that and just vote on everything else, but I changed my mind IN the booth.
I voted for Bob Barr of the Libertarian Party for president.
My reason is this: I do NOT like Bob Barr as a candidate (I think he’s rather UN-libertarian, more like a shape-shifting Republician). Bob Barr was a board member of the NRA, which I do like. But I know he will not win, but here’s the thing: the more votes the Libertarian Party get, the more the party (and their positions) will be taken seriously. And I really think of all the available choices, I think the Libertarian Party is the only hope for America.
November 4th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
The USA clings to an extraordinarily antiquated, winner-take-all system where votes for non-winning candidates are essentially wasted. Even the new government in Iraq uses a parliamentary system of proportional representation, as do most (ahem) civilized nations these days.
In a system of proportional representation, parliament (or in the case of the US, Congress) would be made up people from each party in proportion to the votes the party gets. So if Party A gets 40% of the votes, then 40% of Congress is made up of members of that party. If Party B gets 23% of the votes, same-same.
Imagine if the USA revamped their system to allow this. If you voted for Bob Barr, your vote WOULDN’T be wasted. If the Libertarians got 15% of the vote, 15% of Congress would be Libertarian. Libertarians (and other non-mainstream parties) would get a lot more votes under such a system, because again voting for them isn’t a “waste.”
Voters could then safely vote their conscious without worrying too much about who ultimately becomes president, as Congress would more truly represent the wishes of the voters. This would allow for more than two parties, and would also allow some REAL alternative types to get their feet into Congress.
Take a look at Congress and ask yourself how representative of YOU those fucktards are. They are almost exclusively white, middle-aged or older, rich, suit-wearing lawyers, with short hair (NEVER long) and NONE of the motherfuckers has a beard or a mustache. Where are the women, the blacks, the Asians, the Hispanics, the Native Americans, and the working class people?
When Michael W. Dean can run for Congress (or, more ideally, be PICKED FOR Congress by his party of choice and then sent there if and when that party garners enough votes to start sending folks to Washington) then the system is back on the rails.
This ain’t 1776 anymore. Get with the program, Amerika.
And get rid of that motherfucking Electoral College bullshit, already!
There. I feel better now. Been reading too much Jim Goad.
November 4th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
The working class people are all too busy out fucking WORKING, oiling the machinery with their life blood and wages. Ooops..hang on…just found out we have a new president. From the sound of things all we have to do now is sit back and let everything get better. Now we can all go back to watching “Dancing with the Stars”, talking on our goddamn cell phones, sucking down five dollar coffees and swerving around in our SUVs while our kids fight over the DVD remote. Oh-don’t forget to go GREEN.
Ditto on the Goad tip.
November 5th, 2008 at 7:52 am
I can’t help but agree with the above comments (Nunzio and Chip). I hate that our ideal view of democracy hasn’t existed in a very long time.
I also hate that we have to sit back and see what exactly is going to change, and how/if it’ll change for the better. If anything, I trust the president-elect and Democrat-dominated Congress to screw us over more, and when they do I’ll laugh in the faces of people who thought it was all the Republicans’ fault. Running a country isn’t an easy task, no matter what party you represent.
I’d like to see some real, honest change. Too bad all politicians are fakes and liars.
November 5th, 2008 at 9:52 am
In my first comment I meant to type “vote their CONSCIENCE.” But, you know. Neural pathways get jammed from time to time with bizarre signals and the fingers do things they shouldn’t do with any self-respecting keyboard.
Hell. Now that I think of it, “vote their conscious” ain’t too bad, either. I mean, maybe we ought to be conscious when we vote…
November 5th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Ever try to type on a French keyboard? When I was touring Europe with DIY or DIE, and would be using Internet cafes to blog and answer e-mail I discovered that not all the letters are in the same place everywhere. I went from typing 100 words a minute to typing five words a minute.
That’s kind of how I feel today. Don’t know if I’d feel much different if I’d woken up and McCain/Palin had been in office.
The one possible silver lining (and believe me, I’ve been looking hard for one) is that we have to remember that the president has an important role other than policy. That role is “Face of America to the World.” The world fucking hated Bush. They would probably have hated McCain. (And already DID hate Palin.)
I think the world is really gonna like us having a black president, and dig this cat in particular.
(Until someone fucks with us and he has to actually act like an American and be a hard ass. That’s going to shock them.)
November 5th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
>Take a look at Congress and ask yourself how representative of YOU those fucktards are. They are almost exclusively white, middle-aged or older, rich, suit-wearing lawyers, with short hair (NEVER long) and NONE of the motherfuckers has a beard or a mustache.
====
Well, I don’t feel represented by any of them. Except maybe Kucinich. Who is like me, middle-aged or older, with short hair, no beard or a mustache. And we both have a hot wife.
But none of that shit matters. If there were a 90-year old black / Eskimo lesbian billionaire with a beard who voted 100% of the time on my policies, I would be going door to door to get her elected.
Like my mother said about me having long hair when I was a kid “It’s not what’s outside your head, but what’s inside your head.” (Though she didn’t remember that comment the first time I shaved my head!)
November 24th, 2008 at 9:55 am
I voted for Barr. In fact, I’d decided a while back, if he ran for office again, I’d vote for him based on the editorials he started writing for local media after he was ousted from Congress. I *despised* him when he was in office but the loose screws from that period seem to have been successfully tightened.
November 24th, 2008 at 10:13 am
I don’t like Barr, but like the Lib party. Barr is a lot like many Libs though….kind of shapshifting between republician and liberitarian party, depending on how it suits them. I mean, the guy was for tough drug laws and against gay marriage, but once he’s burned his bridges with the repubs, becomes lib and fights to overturn the bills he voted for (and wrote!). I mean, people can change and grow, but it seems a little too “convenient” for me.
I guess I’m just getting to that point where I can’t vote for ANYONE. Even people I would love to see in office (Ron Paul, for instance), usually have a “deal breaker” for me. (With Ron Paul it’s that he’s anti-abortion, but he thinks it should be left up to the states, so I certainly would vote for him if he ran as president. Or as anything. Hell…I think Ron Paul would change America more as county dogcatcher than most people do as president.
November 24th, 2008 at 10:19 am
Barr was writing about the error of his ways with shit like the Patriot Act, and other things with which I found myself in agreement, several years before he ran for pres.