Get out and Vote!

[gpraceman]

I know that most of you are probably weary of this whole election stuff. I know that I am! I just want to encourage people to get out and vote. There is a lot at stake on the local, state and national level.

I am not going to tell anyone how to vote (nor should anyone else) but I really hope and pray that people will vote based on their values and not the circus that these elections become.

I encourage you to look past the campaign spin and the negative campaign ads. Also take what you hear in the media with a big grain of salt, as they aren't as unbiased as they may claim to be.

Take some time to do some research on the candidates. Look at their positions for issues that are important to you and look at their voting records to see if that is really how they voted (and will likely vote in the future).

One place to check on where candidates stand on the issues and their voting record is at Project Vote Smart.

If you respond, please no political arguments or touting one candidate over another (too much of that already going on).

[derby doc]

I agree. I think voting is very important. Even if you think that your vote wont help, you should give it a shot anyway. Its hard to see past the media , but doing a little homework before hand will help a lot.
I kept telling myself that I would vote early, but I guess that Ill be the guy standing in line after work on tuesday.

[gpraceman]

I kept telling myself that I would vote early, but I guess that Ill be the guy standing in line after work on tuesday.

This year, I did mail in voting. It's much more convenient.

Though, I wish they weren't already reporting how early voting is going. No results should be reported until polls close on the West Coast. That always really bugged me when I lived in CA. People would hear how things were going out east and would not bother to even go to the polls. Now people will hear how early voting is going and if it's not going their candidates way, may do the same.

[Darin McGrew]

This year, I did mail in voting. It's much more convenient.

Yeah, I've been a permanent absentee voter since my county switched to electronic voting machines. That was the only way I could cast a paper ballot. Then they started offering paper ballots at the polls, and now they use paper ballots for almost everyone, and use the electronic voting machines only for voters who have difficulty marking the paper ballot (e.g., blind voters).

[derby doc]

This year, I did mail in voting. It's much more convenient.

Yeah, I've been a permanent absentee voter since my county switched to electronic voting machines. That was the only way I could cast a paper ballot. Then they started offering paper ballots at the polls, and now they use paper ballots for almost everyone, and use the electronic voting machines only for voters who have difficulty marking the paper ballot (e.g., blind voters).

Please make sure that you punch, and remove the "chad" completely. I hope to never see another Florida type recount....

[sporty]

I already voted two weeks ago !!

[Darin McGrew]

Please make sure that you punch, and remove the "chad" completely. I hope to never see another Florida type recount....

We no longer use punch cards. We use the optical scan ballots where there is an arrow head and an arrow tail for each possible vote, and you draw a line connecting the head to the tail to cast a vote.

But we never had problems with the punch cards. I suppose you might get hanging/dimpled/pregnant chad if you stuck several cards in the machine at once, but they were pretty foolproof when used as designed. We always checked to make sure the holes were punched cleanly, and they always were.

[gpraceman]

I will be sure glad when this election is all over. I guess I am rather underwhelmed with local, state, and national campaigns, not to mention the media reporting. Each election seems to degrade things further.

The spin (twisting the facts and outright falsehoods) by most all of the campaigns. Each side is as guilty as the other. So, why do they keep doing it? Because, it works. Many voters will not take the time to filter through all of this to see what is really true.

The media bias that is very evident. A couple of recent studies confirm it. Shouldn't journalists provide an unbiased view and let the voters decide? Yet, media organizations endorse candidates and selectively report issues, which shows some candidates in a better light than others.

The millions of dollars being pumped into these campaigns in order to sway the results (and to influence how those elected will vote). So, who really are those elected beholding to?

Then there is the average American voter. I think it safe to say that most depend on what they see on TV or read in the newspapers and don't dig any deeper. Our lives have become too busy to take the time to filter through all of the campaign spin and the media coverage. Yet, we will all live with the consequences for the next few years.

Still, there is no other country that I'd rather live. I just wish this whole process could be cleaned up. But, I'm, not optimistic that it will happen.

[TAL]

I did'nt update the solicite phone block on our phone and man the calls are rediculous.

1 and 2 minute Pre-recorded messages from campaingers bashing the opponent, but never saying what their representative can accomplish.

Or supposedly Hank Williams Jr. or Michael Waltrip calling on a Pre-recorded message engourageing people to vote.

Have you heard of the record breaking fake calls and representations by bogus campaingers for this whole election.

I have turned off the ringer and monitor the calls Through Caller I.D. and I tell you, it is rediculous.

[derby doc]

I know how you feel. I had a funny email sent to me about a week ago. It said something like........ Congressmen should wear suits like nascar drivers, so you can see who their corporate sponsors are.

[TAL]

LOL ! I like that one...

[Go Bubba Go]

...Still, there is no other country that I'd rather live. I just wish this whole process could be cleaned up. But, I'm, not optimistic that it will happen.

People wonder why there is so much "money in politics", but then you look at how intrusive and powerful the government has become and you understand why. No one has recently offered to perform "below cost" renovations at my home or stash 90k of cash in my freezer. Why? Simple, I do not have the power over them that we have surrendered to our elected officials. To me, the "sponsorship" issue is pretty simple. The more decision making power you surrender to decision makers in government, the more people are going to express interest (often through cash, trips / giveaways, and "services") in influencing government decision makers.

I had a very unnerving, almost surreal experience helping my son review material for his 6th grade Social Studies class the other night. We were reviewing the history of the founding of the country, and discussing abuse of power by central government, separation of powers, limited and largely local government, etc. as found in his text (frankly, I was a little surprised by how much material contemporaneous to the founding was quoted and referenced in the text, rather than just some 21st century egghead's thoughts on what it all meant).

Meanwhile, the TV is on in the other room and there are campaign adds running seemingly non-stop where the candidates (Local, State, and Federal) are basically arguing over who has the better plan to "take good care of us" through central government run / sponsored health care, education, tax policy, gun policy, wealth redistribution, etc. ad nauseum.

The contrast between the 6th grade textbook "theory" and what we have become "in practice" was stark and was not lost on my son. (BTW he also wanted to know who was gonna pay for all the "free" stuff everyone's being promised... go figure).

I agree wholeheartedly that there is no other country in which I would rather live, and am proud to be a citizen (with all it's responsibilities as well as privileges) and to have cast a vote today.

For my part, though, I do hope we wake up soon and realize, as my son did the other night, that we have strayed far from where we began and that we can't be truly free while at the same time surrendering more and more of our freedoms, decisions, and property to "government" in the hope that she will "take good care of us".

Bubba

p.s. Sorry, had to get it out of my system. Probably "campaign overload". If the mid-term / 2010 congressional campaigns begin in earnest tomorrow, I think I will puke.

[Darin McGrew]

The contrast between the 6th grade textbook "theory" and what we have become "in practice" was stark and was not lost on my son. (BTW he also wanted to know who was gonna pay for all the "free" stuff everyone's being promised... go figure).

Smart kid... You must be awfully proud of him!

[Go Bubba Go]

The contrast between the 6th grade textbook "theory" and what we have become "in practice" was stark and was not lost on my son. (BTW he also wanted to know who was gonna pay for all the "free" stuff everyone's being promised... go figure).

Smart kid... You must be awfully proud of him!

Certainly am!

He has his moments (don't we all ), but overall he is shaping up to be a fine young man.