Sorry I didn’t have a chance to respond on this particular thread as it rolled off the main active topics list a few times.
We just completed an office move and I literally worked the last 20 days, every day, some days for 12 to 14 hours. Brutal, but glad we moved, and glad its largely over.
My point about voting out the incumbents was not from a right winger perspective. My political leanings have changed since leaving college back in the 80’s and continue to evolve. I am as apt to vote republican, dem, independent, Libertarian, etc as not. We do need to wash out Large Government proponents and attempt to get back to government at a size that’s just large enough, but not sprawling. The public sector unions need to be kept in check, and we need leaders who understand and see that.
But, in the 2008, I voted for many a democrat. And, having said that, have been disappointed that the democratic party has performed so sluggishly, and with common liberal inclinations. I believe Pres Obama over-learned lessons from the Clnton days (He took more of a hands off approach. He let the democratic congress shape the healthcare bill, instead of using the common sense, which helped get him elected, to carve out a plan which would inspire and actually improve the broken healthcare system.) Now, it will be all he can do to keep the republicans from dismantling the ill thought out plan in its entirety. And, I can’t say I would be upset about seeing it reversed and overhauled.
Understand that I am not a dyed in the wool single party member, but that I look at all the candidates, all the prop/ballot measures and try to choose the ones that are truely the best. And, I hope that everyone else did the same. I do not sit down with the mail-in ballot and decide on the spot who to vote for, and who not. I would expect that those on this panel are thoughtful and judicious in their choices as well, and can see this in the reponses across all the election-based posts.
I typically post the major candidates and ballots on this board under the OT forum topic heading to encourage others to take a few moments and share their thoughts. I share my own as time permits, and hopefully we, as a group, perform and an even better public service in being more informed while completing the voting ballots. Discussing/posting must at some level help the greater good.
Just another small windfall of Rich’s Piggington website – a gift that keeps on giving, even in areas it wasn’t meant to cover.
UCGal – I agree, that the anti-incumbent approach can end up throwing the baby out with the bath water. I think I may have voted for one or two, but apologies in that I honestly can’t remember all those I voted for because I didn’t keep a copy of the voting ballot. And, I was under extreme durress by being in the middle of an office move….
Hats off to BigGov
“I prefer to vote for the corrupt party that is on the side of the working man as opposed to the corrupt party that only cares about the richest 2% of Americans.”
Nicely said.
But i vacilate sometimes between that sentiment, and the resultant sprawling government the dems seem to advocate. But, the other point is that both conservatives and liberals alike spend too much. And, I don’t see many examples of either party reducing the size of government or spending when in power. (But, we REALLY need to halt the growth of government, and begin the uphill battle of eliminating unnecessary positions, much like companies did/do when organzational growths gets out of hand).
I would also say that we spend WAY too much on defense. While I do vote for and support a strong US military, we need many, many reforms in this area. We need to consolidate Army, Navy, Marines, into one structure. (will take a good century to do it, but it needs to start soon). We need a strong president (like Kennedy, but one who actually survives through a term or two) to get the ball rolling.
I think perhaps the two cups of coffee I drank this morning are wearing off, and I need to finish up this rambling, meandering post.
Thanks to all who contributed. I know that I benefited from your posts on this thread and the other prop 23 thread that was running throughout the days leading up to Nov 2.
