Last Minute Election Thoughts

We should know the results fairly early.  Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, and Virginia polls all close at 4 PM PST.

The media are pretending that Pennsylvania is in play, I think this is just to keep us in front of our TVs.  There are 9 states in play: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Of these nine, I think three will go to Obama quickly: Ohio, Nevada, and New Hampshire.  That leaves him just 6 electoral votes short of victory.

If Romney does not sweep Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida (all close at 4 PST) then it is over.  Florida appears to be close, Virginia leans Obama, and North Carolina leans Romney.

Predictions: Odds are at least 50 to 1 for an Obama victory.  And we will probably know the definitive answer by 8PM PST.

None of this is meant to imply that it makes one whit of difference who wins.  While the media hypes this election as one of the most vitriolic in history, I think we have never had an election where the candidates agreed on so much.  And maybe that is why they resort to name calling, there are no differences in their political leanings to debate.

Catch the results here.

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Beyond Voting (link)

The Bureau of Public Secrets has updated “Beyond Voting, The Limits of Electoral Poltics.”  A timely message as we move into the final stretch till the election.

The essay’s author has a better view of voting than I do and leaves off with this message:

“By all means vote if you feel like it. But don’t stop there. Real social change requires participation, not representation.”

Not voting, why?

Last time I voted, I was made to feel utterly foolish.  It was Bill Clinton’s first term, I was excited, I had seen all the candidates, been to their rallies.  I saw Bush the elder, Clinton, Gore, and (almost got my ass kicked seeing) Quail.  (Come to think about it, I almost got beaten at the Bush rally too.)

Clinton promised hope, and like a sucker I bought into it.  I was not that young, but I was definitely overly optimistic in the process.  “We” beat Bush, it was heady times.  Excitement crackling in the air.

The day Clinton took office he bombed Iraq…I think it was like 2 hours into his regime.  I knew I had been made the fool of.  Clinton did nothing to bring hope to the nation–I seem to recall that it was Clinton that deregulated the banks.

So, 12 years later, along comes Obama, offering change.  Fool me once….  I was considering registering to vote for Obama, jury duty be damned…

Then along comes the economic crunch and the splurge debate.  Did Obama rise to the occasion, did he offer hope, could I tell him apart from the DC apparatchik?  No, no, and no.  He was very staid, he offered no change, he was a conventional Democrat to the core.

This is not change.  This is Democratic machine politics in its most traditional (and blighted) sense.  Obama had the opportunity to transcend politics, he failed to take it.

With Clinton, I spent 8 years feeling dirty.  Obama dropped the ball before I sullied myself with supporting him.  So I won’t vote again…and consequently, come January I won’t feel dirty.

Sure, some so-called progressives are excited, but they are deluded…there ain’t no change here…let them spend the next 8 years feeling dirty and used.

I made myself a promise 12 years ago.  I promised to never again vote for someone that I did not want to win.  I promised that if it came down to voting for the lesser of two evils, I would abstain.

This Saturday is the last day to register to vote in November.  It seems that once again, there is not a candidate that I can get behind.  Sure, I want Obama to beat McCain, but not enough to sully myself.

What is your take?

Election Eve

I did a search for “Why I don’t Vote”.

Tomorrow this god foresaken season ends. I am glad I don’t live in a contentious state, we are pretty solid dems here, so no one spends ad money locally. Thank goodness.

I actually feel more empathetic with the democrats. But let’s be honest. They are a bunch of incompitent shills. If they don’t sweep both houses of congress, they are sad sacks indeed.

Let’s see: Iraq, no Osama, Abramoff, Foley, Abu Graib, Rumsfield, Cheney, Iraq, DeLay, Plamegate, Guantanamo, etc…ad nauseum…

History (the last 100 years) teaches us that the out of power party always gains substantial seats in an off year election. So let’s add historical inertia to the list above.

Still…

The dems will be lucky to eke out enough seats to take one house majority…

They lack vision. The republicans have a plan. It is diabolically evil, but we can all agree that it is a plan. What are the democrats plan? Name a democrat that has successfully gotten their vision across to a broad spectrum of the populace? Not a one.

I don’t vote because there is one to vote for. I don’t vote because no one who seems as if they would truly represent me has ever been on the ballot. I don’t vote because I am sick and tired of choosing the lesser of two evils.

In America, or so I have been taught, the majority makes the decisions. In America the majority does not vote. What does that say about America’s brand of democracy.