(no subject)

[dolari]

If you've noticed, I've been very quiet ont he political front this year. All my friends have posted about Obama and McCain. I haven't heard a peep about any third party candidates. You'll also notice, I've stayed away from the whole fight, too (other than one small blurb about "I'd rather one over the other, but I can live with either")

The thing is. I'm over it. I don't care about the election.

In 2004, I realized it doesn't matter how much campaigning you do, or how much pamphlets or dirty tricks you pull to sway the election one way or another. It's just that Most of The Electorate is Stupid and There Are More of Them Than There Are of You. If Obama wins, great. If McCain does, well, boogers. Frankly, I've kinda washed my hands of it all.

I did put a bag over my head and thought of Old Glory, though - I voted via Texas' really overly complicated Long Distance Voting (I'm still not registered in Washington), but, I didn't care about anyone in particular on the ballot. For the first time ever, I straight ticket voted Democrat. I don't straight ticket vote. But, again, I'm not particularly interested in anyone and am just voting to get it over with at this point,

What does that mean for my future? I do plan on registering in Washington...eventually (can't win it if you ain't in it). But my sights are turned squarely on Canada. I sat and watched the Canadian election results on CBC (which I get on my cable system) actually cheering and rooting for the good guys (Even though Harper is still there), and listening to people in opinion polls who actually seem educated and not making decisions based on what the Bible tells them, or rumour or flat out lies that happen to make you feel better about your candidate but are not just false, but downright libelous. Heck, even the conservative opinions I heard coming out of Canadian citizenry seemed pretty well thought out.

The ONLY thing I'm really interested in is Proposition 8 in San Francisco. If Prop 8 passes - there's no reason to come back to the US ever after leaving for Canada. If it fails, there's a small chance that Emily and I could come back.

Other than that - I've really kinda stopped caring. It's too late for me - I've lost my faith. The Uneducated Electorate will get who they get. One can only hope they're a little smarter than 2004's electorate.

Comments

[mundanecircus.livejournal.com]

The ONLY thing I'm really interested in is Proposition 8 in San Francisco. If Prop 8 passes - there's no reason to come back to the US ever after leaving for Canada.

Another reason to renounce your American citizenship -- Amendment 2 in Florida, which will make that state's ban on gay marriage part of the state's constitution. Yet another reason why I want to leave Florida -- it seems the road to progress was washed away with Hurricane Andrew.

[jenndolari.livejournal.com]

I don't plan on renouncing my citizenship. I just plan to become a Canadian. The two aren't mutually exclusive.

[laura-seabrook.livejournal.com]

Quite so. When I was with Lee (who moved to Australia from Baltimore) she kept an American passport, even after she was "naturalised" (NOT the same as "pasteurised").

[laura-seabrook.livejournal.com]

Maybe Canada would be a good option for you too?

[mundanecircus.livejournal.com]

Well, if there's any consolation, I visited Canada (especially Quebec) a few times the last few years. And I used to subscribe to a Canadian satellite service, mainly for CBC and the French channels (house remodelling, in advance for an unrealised move to Austin, ended that, unfortunately).

To be honest, if I could move to Canada, I would. (And if I could speak French fluently, I would move to Quebec.)

[laura-seabrook.livejournal.com]

In Australia it's compulsory to vote... ...if you're registered.

Registering however isn't that compulsory, and they also lapse when people move with no forwarding addresses. Anyone who doesn't want to vote just turns up to the polling booths and pretends to vote, spoiling their ballots.

Of course in State and Federal voting we have various types of preferential voting systems were you "should" mark every candidate with a number from 1 to the number of candidates. Very easy to get confused with that (and technically everybody voted for everyone!) so there's a fair percentage of spoilled ballots anyway.

I read a Subgenius book that mentioned two bumper stickers on two different pages:

"IF VOTING COULD CHANGE ANYTHING IT'D BE ILLEGAL", and

"IF NOT VOTING COULD CHANGE ANYTHING IT'D BE ILLEGAL"

I suspect that the advantage to our various "democratic" systems is not that the governments the people want gets in, but rather that changes of power are relatively bloodless.

[keikotakamura.livejournal.com]

Wow, it must be nice to not be bothered by the CONSTANT IMPENDING DOOM streaming out of the 24-hour news channels. I've been tearing my hair out and munching on antacids ever since the primaries ended. I don't have the luxury of being complacent. Prop. 8 affects all of California, so it affect not only me, but my family, my friends, and all gay/lesbian Californians. If I don't fight back now, I'm going to have to keep fighting until I get another chance.

I wonder how the music scene is in Canada. :3

[jenndolari.livejournal.com]

>Wow, it must be nice to not be bothered by the CONSTANT IMPENDING DOOM
>streaming out of the 24-hour news channels

I get a lot of news from as many different sources as I can and make my own decisions based on what I hear. So when one of the news sources goes out of their way to scream OH MY GOD!, I just lull that out with the quiet dulcet tones of BBC News. :D

>Prop. 8 affects all of California, so it affect not only me, but my
>family, my friends, and all gay/lesbian Californians.

::nods:: Prop 8 is going to affect one of my closest friends (the one I stayed with when I visited San Fran). If it passes, it could dissolve her marriage. I'm hoping to high heaven the folks in California have been educated enough to look past some of the more outrageous claims I've seen, and realize human rights are EVERYONE'S human rights.

Sadly, I don't have that faith in the rest of the country... :/

[keikotakamura.livejournal.com]

I hate to be a hopemonger here and vomit sunshine and rainbows on you, but things are looking pretty good right now! All we gotta do is vote. :P

[jenndolari.livejournal.com]

I like that word, hopemonger. :)

While I have very little FAITH in the electorate, I definately believe this is the smartest group of voters in some time. And I'd like to see more, MANY MORE, educated voters.

I just don't see it happening in overwhelming numbers. Which is why I want the electorate to prove me wrong. Give me faith in voters again.

I don't mean to sound bitter about politics, but I'm from Austin. We're a bunch of left wing hardcore liberals in a huge state filled with Red. We do what we can to make change, but we burn out pretty quick. ;)

[pazi-ashfeather.livejournal.com]

You know, that's not always true.

It's a very popular conception these days, reinforced through pop culture and a lot of corporate policies that groups of people are basically just herds of sheep. They can behave that way, yes -- or they can behave erratically; groupthink often takes off in a direction none of its members would especially like to see. But it's not the whole story. Part of the problem is that a) many people here lack for the knowledge to handle certain relevant situations effectively (but they could get it), and b) far more importantly, cultural pressures acting both within and without have reinforced this belief, by *encouraging* the very behavioral skews you bemoan.

[aspasia13.livejournal.com]

Speaking of third party candidates, I thought you'd appreciate this:

[taraxoxo.livejournal.com]

It's just that liberals have to get up a whole movtivated culture, just like the conservatives have done. Otherwise we will never win.