You should vote on Nov. 6th if you live in the United States!
Because if you don't...I'll...I'll...use up this stack of napkins very quickly and eat this apple!...or something.
Seriously, though, you should vote. And not just in the presidential race--there are lots of highly-competitive U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and state senate and state house/assembly and municipal elections going on, and many of them are located outside the so-called "swing states", yet it's these swing seats at are going to be really determining the balance of power in the Senate and House.
And why is this important?
* The U.S. Senate and U.S. House are important because that's where major changes to legislation--such as new laws or revisions to existing ones--happen. No one else can change national policy wholesale; the president can only slightly tweak how the current laws are implemented.
* The state legislatures and municipal governments are all about local policies--stuff that's happening in your own neighborhood. Plus, they're the places where up-and-coming politicians usually get their start--you can expect to see some of them in high positions of power several years down the road, so they're where cool new people often show up...or where dastardly new jerks come on the scene.
As for who to vote for, I'm going to suggest voting for Democratic candidates (i.e. members of the Democratic Party, a.k.a. Democrats). I mean, take a look at this chart from xkcd...and you'll see just how skewed the Republicans (especially those in the U.S. House of Representatives) are, toward far-right members (compare to how few far-left Democrats are). They're seriously nuts. Especially when claiming things like how there's a thing called "legitimate" rape that never produces pregnancy.
Also, I can't figure out Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's positions on anything; he keeps changing them.
But anyway, you should vote. If you haven't already done so.
Seriously, though, you should vote. And not just in the presidential race--there are lots of highly-competitive U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and state senate and state house/assembly and municipal elections going on, and many of them are located outside the so-called "swing states", yet it's these swing seats at are going to be really determining the balance of power in the Senate and House.
And why is this important?
* The U.S. Senate and U.S. House are important because that's where major changes to legislation--such as new laws or revisions to existing ones--happen. No one else can change national policy wholesale; the president can only slightly tweak how the current laws are implemented.
* The state legislatures and municipal governments are all about local policies--stuff that's happening in your own neighborhood. Plus, they're the places where up-and-coming politicians usually get their start--you can expect to see some of them in high positions of power several years down the road, so they're where cool new people often show up...or where dastardly new jerks come on the scene.
As for who to vote for, I'm going to suggest voting for Democratic candidates (i.e. members of the Democratic Party, a.k.a. Democrats). I mean, take a look at this chart from xkcd...and you'll see just how skewed the Republicans (especially those in the U.S. House of Representatives) are, toward far-right members (compare to how few far-left Democrats are). They're seriously nuts. Especially when claiming things like how there's a thing called "legitimate" rape that never produces pregnancy.
Also, I can't figure out Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's positions on anything; he keeps changing them.
But anyway, you should vote. If you haven't already done so.
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Comments
Would vote for him if he were running and the election weren't close.
Oh yeah, vote no on Proposed Constitutional Amendment #1.
People expect him to be a wizard, I suppose.
He wasn't "too willing to listen to the GOP", he was too willing to make compromises, some of which worked, most of which did not.
[quote]As far as both republicans and democrats go, neither of them is willing
to listen to the other, consider their opposition's viewpoints, or try
to understand where their opponent is coming from.[/quote]
The problem with this is, starting with the fomenting of the Tea Party movement, the Republicans were just hell-bent on preventing any significant legislating, at all, in order to do two things: (1) cause government to become useless and cause the Dems in power to be blamed, and (2) not let through any legislation except if it conformed to their positions: specifically, not raising taxes and not increasing spending.
Getting anything done with this sort of opposition is like pulling teeth. For the Dems, it became a game of either giving the Republicans concessions until they were sufficiently happy, or fighting back against them.
Hilariously, the emergence of the "vote third party" movement only makes this all the more difficult.
If there were ever a significant shift to make way for one or more additional parties, you can bet the exact same thing would happen. Most of the notable third parties are simply existing political platforms taken to extremism. Libertarians are what happen when you combine the worst aspects of the right and the left, and are probably the only exception to that.
Because "moderate" is not a political position. It's a point between any two of them.
Obama is moderate.
That's why a lot of people are disappointed with Obama. It's also why he's vowed to become less moderate.
"Moderate" gets nothing done, is the main problem.
Why not ask a Dutchman how that works out sometime?
Maybe not, but I think "this guy can do better, the other is Lex Luthor" certainly is.
I honestly think Obama's done a good job given the mess that was handed to him. Others, of course, wanted Utopia by now.