Election 2014 (Page 2)

Unless....

Just get out and vote.  Don't vote? Don't complain.

I can only vote in one of these United States, but I have a right to complain about policies passed by legislators from all of them.    

Truth be told, I think way too many people vote as it is.  If a person requires encouragement to vote, then I'd just as soon they didn't.

lol, there is something to be said about the uninformed voters. 

I did vote today because we're traveling tomorrow, and even as what I would consider a very informed voter it's really hard to do your homework all the way down the ballot.  My ballot was 4 pages long and other than the first handful of high office races I have barely heard of most of the people on the ballot and they're mostly non-partisan positions so you can't even vote ideologically.

Fortunately I had my handy dandy voters guide that I could read the personal statement of every ballot, but even with that there were two or three board positions that weren't even in my voters guide so I didn't vote for any of them.  No freebies from tuwood.  :-P
I did vote for every position that had a Libertarian and had a good mix of R's and D's the rest of the way down.  I have to say I feel that this was my most "informed" vote to date. 

I do have a long standing position of voting no for every single judge that comes up for retention, so those are always easy.  Throw them all out.  lol

I'm in no hurry for the elections in my part of the world.....because when they are over, we're going to get a Grand Jury decision that is liable to make life a whole lot less fun for a few days or so for me.

They won't send out the GJ decision before the elections......so I'm all for putting the elections off until.....oh.....maybe January when it's 0 degrees with a -20 wind chill.

Yes, because putting the fate of the many in the hands of the few has always worked out so well.

I'd rather fewer informed voters make decisions than the politically ignorant masses.  An informed electorate is vital for democracy to work - we do not have an informed electorate.  It is nearly impossible for a voter to be fully informed these days.  While there are plenty of people who don't even try to become informed, political ignorance is systemic and is a direct byproduct of how complicated our government has become.  How many voters are informed about the issues, have thought through their own positions on the issues, and know how opposing candidates stand on those issues in any given race?  Not many, including me.  Like Tuwood, I won't vote in a race unless I have taken the time to gain the knowledge to make an informed decision - there are races on every ballot that I leave blank.

I agree to a point.  An informed electorate is vital for an effective democracy to work.  My point is that I believe people should inform themselves.  I'm not advocating for people walking into the booth and just randomly voting OR voting party lines without actually researching what the Person, not Party, is running on.  I'm advocating for people to actually inform themselves on what is going on.  And frankly it is the least we, as citizens, can do.  And it isn't like today just "snuck up" on people.  We have known for a LONG time that it was coming.  So being unprepared or uninformed is a lame excuse.  Sorry.  No sympathy.  And I frankly believe that the MORE informed individuals that vote the better off we will be.  

Now, as it relates to judges, I personally find the practice of voting for them abhorrent.  But that is just me.  

I see the Republicans gaining the Senate, but not by much. 

Then, for the next two years they get to actually LEGISLATE.  They get to debate and vote on bills that they hope will shape the direction of the country.  And two yrs from now, they'll be held responsible for those votes; They'll be no more hiding behind the president or the party in the majority.   If, as American's, we like what we see; a social-economic-environmental future that we can all live with, then perhaps the (Far Right) Conservative movement will survive....however.....

BTW:  Esquire Magazine, Nov. issue has a FABULOUS article about what CONGRESS thinks is wrong with Congress.  They mostly all agree on the same obstacles to actual governing;  Money, Gerrymandered voting districts and Ted Cruz. 

Not necessarily......the best thing they can do is pass a bunch of bills they know Obama will veto.....who will it be on then?

Really, THAT'S the BEST they can do?  Both parties can just continue the cycle of obstruct, deny, deflect while NOTHING gets done? 

I don't think I'm being a PollyAnna, but I hope for better things than that.

Oh, I agree....poor choice of words on my part. 

But let's be serious about this.....Obama's presidency has been a disaster.  I don't know how history won't view him and his administration as the biggest bunch of buffoons in the history of that office.....and I'll agree, he had to pass some pretty stiff competition on both sides of the isle to win that race.

Based on opinion or based on quantitative data?

Based on polls, you might be right.  Based on actual quantitative data on what has gotten better v what has gotten worse, THAT might not be so easy to prove and state categorically.

STOP.  That statement is as FOX-newsish as they come.  Almost 50 bills to repeal Affordable Care Act and over 200 to authorize Commemorative Coins.  Don't plan that crap all on Harry Reid.  There's plemty of blame, both Red AND Blue, to go around. 

I actually had this exact conversation with a friend this morning.
I outlined a multitude of quantitative data which indicated Obama's tenure had been a success (especially when viewed from the lens of the rotting corpse he inherited from Bush), while the only rebuttal I received was Fox&Friends-esque sound bites.

I soon realized that people really don't care about facts.

A major flaw of the two-party system is the "Us vs Them", win at all cost, mentality of the general (aka uneducated) population.

I actually had this exact conversation with a friend this morning.
I outlined a multitude of quantitative data which indicated Obama's tenure had been a success (especially when viewed from the lens of the rotting corpse he inherited from Bush), while the only rebuttal I received was Fox&Friends-esque sound bites.

I soon realized that people really don't care about facts.

A major flaw of the two-party system is the "Us vs Them", win at all cost, mentality of the general (aka uneducated) population.

Just to continue.  Voter turnout was crazy low in some states.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/preliminary-turnout-numbers-are-way-down-from-2010-and-2012/ 

Oh, come on......this administration is as ham handed as can be possible to still be taken seriously.  From the Obamacare rollout debacle, through the IRS scandal of "losing" records, to the handling of the ISIS ramp up, to dealing with Putin, to the DHS phone snooping, to the Secret Service meltdown and on and on and on.  In fact, there seems to be no end to the dumbness from these clowns.  I don't know how anyone could take anything that comes out of the WH seriously.......and Holder? ...my god, this guy is one of the biggest numbskulls to ever hold the AG office.

I don't watch TV, I don't look at Fox news........I just sit and laugh.   I don't have an "us vs. them" attitude.......I'll vote either party.  But geez......I can't believe how many people bought into this President.  I'm stunned at how this administration just rolls along......clueless.