Hey everybody, let's run a country!

[Nabubrush]

Thought it might be useful/instructive/infuriating to have a voting thread. Let's engage in participatory democracy, kids!

It's kind of fun for me because I'm at work, so I get to see all the wingnut "we're new at this" Alaska politics (which I was steeped in as a kid, due to my folks being deeply involved), and I also get to follow the hippy-dippy Oregon stuff.

Fun races:

(AK)
Sen: Murkowski/McAdams/Crazy Joe Miller
Gov: Parnell/Berkowitz

(OR)
Gov: Dudley/Kitzhaber
Measure 74 (licensing weed farmers)
Measure 75 (authorizing one private casino - this deal is kind of weird)

So, what about the rest of you folks? Any fun races in your neck of the woods? Is Sarah Palin hanging around in front of your house? Did you enter the voting booth and loudly complain it was out of toilet paper? What's going on?

[greenkoolayd]

i didnt vote because i am not registered to re-pube-lickin' or demo-crap.

[JorgeFabregas]

i didnt vote because i am not registered to re-pube-lickin' or demo-crap.

What does that have to do with voting in a general election?

I plan to vote today after months of riding the fence.

[Nabubrush]

i didnt vote because i am not registered to re-pube-lickin' or demo-crap.

what

[smick]

(OR)
Gov: Dudley/Kitzhaber
Measure 74 (licensing weed farmers)
Measure 75 (authorizing one private casino - this deal is kind of weird)

I came out Yes on 74 (The Mercury had some good reasons against it... but I don't know... they weren't enough to sway me.)   I also came out No on 75.   

[Asherdan]

Oh, CA has some dillys!

We've got Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown facing off against Meg "Ahnold-Lite" Whitman for Gov.

We've got Babarah Boxer facing off to Carly "Crazy Lifer" Fiorina going at it for the Senate seat.

Pot legalization is on the tasty tasty menu.

Redistricting by a non-political panel is on board.

I mean, that is just the highlights, in CA this is a arrow pointer changing election.

I voted this morning, Steve Rocco was on the OUSD Board ballot again, which made me oddly happy.

[Nabubrush]

I voted in favor of weed farmers. I'd like to see all these pothead couch-surfers give a little something back. I'm pretty sure everybody in Oregon who ever smokes pot has a card by now, so what the heck.

I also voted against the casino. A little too transparent in your gaming of the system there, boys (see what I did?).

[pmcd9]

I got into an argument with my father yesterday over the Texas governors race.  We've got entrenched George Bush Clone Rick Perry going against former Houston mayor Bill White.  Yes he agrees he did a good job of governing Houston, yes he was on the ball, a real hero almost during the hurricane, getting things done when the federal government (FEMA) was dragging their feet.  No, he's not voting for him because he's too liberal (What?).  He doesn't want to protect the border (Huh?).  Oy yey!

[Asherdan]

Huh, I could be swung by a good guy in a disaster, liberal or not.

[JorgeFabregas]

Missouri's Prop A would put St. Louis and Kansas City's income taxes up for local springtime referendums every five years. It would also ban any other cities in Missouri from enacting income taxes.

I don't like it for a number of reasons. Why should I have any say on how other cities structure their tax code? Why should people in other cities have any say over the legislation of the tax code in my city (St. Louis)?

Also, if the income taxes are phased out, then the burden (30% of St. Louis' city budget and 40% of Kansas City's) will inevitably be shifted to property and/or sales taxes. The city income tax is a flat 1% of earnings for people who live and/or work in St. Louis. That seems fair to me, as the people who benefit from the city infrastructure are the people who pay for it.

[Nabubrush]

We got some weird referendum about how our library is run that sounds kind of like that - something about forcing other districts to go along with financing in some kind of way. Sounded a bit hinky to me, but I figured fuck THOSE guys.

[arkabee]

oh, i thought this was the thread to RUIN a country.

dammit.

in local news, there's an ad on the radio telling me that some of the people funding the democrat candidate for congress are democrats.

i shit you not.

also, a dude called in to the local "call in and either talk about shit you don't know, try to sell shit, try to buy shit, or possibly read a passage from the bible, but please stop stalking the host" show,
and,
i paraphrase but this is the gist, yeah,

he said that he was old,
and that he lived on a fixed income,
and those folks in washington refused to raise the cost of living,
so we should all vote republican this election.

now, we all have our own misguided loyalty to the republican, democrat, or set shit on fire and riot parties.
all three of them have consistently let all of us down in many, many ways.

and i really don't have a high expectation for humanity. i mean, if i order a hamburger, and reply to the inevitable question with "no, ma'am, no cheese. please.", and do not receive cheese on my hamburger,
then i go home,
i go to the garage,
i lift up the drop cloth from over the easel,
and i put one, singular, lonely mark of chalk into the: "totally didn't fuck up for once, maybe there IS hope for the future of humanity" column.

so,
i don't expect to hear anything reasonable about or from politics in any facet.

but, this left me more jaded.

[AugustWest]

I voted against Rand Paul today!

[Asherdan]

and i really don't have a high expectation for humanity. i mean, if i order a hamburger, and reply to the inevitable question with "no, ma'am, no cheese. please.", and do not receive cheese on my hamburger,
then i go home,
i go to the garage,
i lift up the drop cloth from over the easel,
and i put one, singular, lonely mark of chalk can into the: "totally didn't fuck up for once, maybe there IS hope for the future of humanity" column.

[CortJstr]

I love all the road signs saying things like "voted with Pelosi 97%." Well no shit. That's kind of why we elected him.

I've only heard a few election ads. It's the Boeing/EADS ads about their fuck*ng refueling tankers that make me want to kick babies. Right now I'm supporting EADS simply because they run fewer and less obnoxious ads. Here's a tip, Boeing, any ad featuring two people having a really fake conversation is fuck*ng annoying by definition.