My Ballot

We are afforded a secret ballot when voting, but I'm not ashamed of my votes. I may be later, but for now, they are what I believe.

When I go to the voting booth Tuesday evening, my ballot will look like what follows. It leans Republican and its relies heavily on the option of no. I did not support a single bond measure believing that if the people want it they should fit it into the normal operation of the budget. If there isn't money or credit enough for the project then the project doesn't need to be completed.

Terry Pratchett on Politics

I stumbled across a quotation that sums up the race for political office, particularly when looking at presidential candidates.

"If cats looked like frogs we'd realize what nasty, cruel little bastards they are. Style. That's what people remember."
— Terry Pratchett (Lords and Ladies)

It's also an accurate assessment of cats.

Barack Obama has style. He has a biography that can compete with John McCain's biography. It doesn't matter all that much what positions these men try to sell. It's the style and the Barack Obama style is what America appears to be craving.

All Politics Are Local

The campaign fliers are arriving hot and heavy these days. The best of these is from Mark Ridley-Thomas, a candidate for county supervisor.

The flier at first appears to be an ad from Bernard Parks, the other candidate for county supervisor. Even as I read through it, I was still thinking it endorsed Bernard Parks. His name was prominently placed on the top. The picture was not the most flattering, but it said "Republicans for Parks". There was a RNC logo in the corner. "Closest Thing to a Republican," it said in large type. "Embraces Republican principles," it continued. A cropped picture of President Bush and Vice President Cheney peeking over a Parks sign appeared elsewhere.

In most of the places I've lived this would have gotten Bernard Parks elected to office. Not so much here. On the other side of the flier, it becomes apparent that this is an ad attacking the character of Mr. Parks. On the more cheerful side of the flier it tells us that Ridley-Thomas is endorsed by the Democratic Party. The picture is of Ridley-Thomas standing next to Barack Obama. It asks for my vote.

Oh.

Now I'm confused. I was ready to vote for Bernard Parks. Then I remember that in my precinct during primary elections they reserve only 1 voting booth for the Republicans. That's the same number they give to the Libertarians. In my precinct the elephant logo in the corner is a mark of death.

It's a shame Mr. Ridley-Thomas spent all that money convincing me to vote for his opponent. Politics is indeed local, but it seems I'm not yet a local.

Democracy Run Amuck

I have it all arranged here with me. There's the 143 page California General Election Official Voter Information Guide, the 15 page supplemental California General Election Official Voter Information Guide, the 32 page City of Los Angeles Voter Information Pamphlet and last, but never least, the 48 page Official Sample Ballot and Voter Instructions.

Ah, so this is democracy.

I don't care for it.

We are supposed to live in a representative democracy. In theory, this form of government allows us to choose a couple people that we think share our values and our general ideology and then we trust them to take care of the details. In conducting this work for us that may not live up to our expectations and we vote them out of office. It's a nice system. It's nice because it doesn't require me to read over 200 pages of voter information.

California has a notoriously incompetent legislature backed by a weak governor. To make up for this, the good people of California and the legislature put everything up for public vote. I get the opportunity to be heard on 12 state initiatives, 3 county measures and 2 city issues. This includes 13.2 billion dollars in state bonds and 7 billion dollars in LA Unified School District bonds. I also get to voice my feelings on crating animals in industrial farming, parental notification for abortion, renewable energy, same-sex marriage, victim's rights, redistricting, mass transit, gang prevention, and low rent housing.

There's 63 pages of statutes with italics, strikethroughs and all the things that make lawyers get all giddy.

I say again, I don't like it.

The safest bet is to just vote NO across the board. With the exception of Proposition 11, that puts redistricting in the hands of a group of unelected registered voters plucked from anonymity (because the Assembly is too busy putting initiatives on the ballot), I will vote no on everything.

The weather's nice here. If the schools crumble, the kids can just sit outside with books on their laps.

Confined animals are cheap food. Parents that didn't know their kids were having sex shouldn't care if they know the same kids is having an abortion. If we let the gangs get big enough maybe they'll just wipe each other out.

I'm not going to use the 9 billion dollar high speed rail, nonviolent offenders can rehabilitate on their own dime, renewable energy should be market driven, the police can increase their funding by stopping more people speeding on the freeways and the California veterans can just be happy with the money the federal government gives them.

If I've left anything out, I apologize...I can't remember everything. Besides, I have to save some brain power for picking a president.

My ballot is six pages long because government has stopped functioning in California. It's the same thing in Washington, we just don't have federal initiatives, but give it time and who knows? Maybe we can all sit around the table staring at 4 thick pamphlets of point and counterpoint. Then we can all go to the voting booth and say yes to a bunch of things we cannot afford because we really don't have a clue what the budget looks like, we just know that a high speed rail between Los Angeles and San Francisco sounds cool.

Next year I'm going to push for my own ballot initiative. It will ask that for every public office on the ballot there be included, in addition to the candidates names, a choice of "No, thanks." If "No, thanks" gets the most votes, the seat remains unfilled. What law is passed by the people through proposition is made by the judges these days anyway. Why waste the money with a legislature?

The Trouble with John McCain

For a long time, I've sought a handle to my thoughts about John McCain. Long have I supported him. Long have I watched in anticipation of his second run at the presidency. Then, on the eve of it, I doubt.

As the California primary drew near last summer, I hesitated. I started shopping for a new candidate. The old John McCain wasn't showing up. Something had changed. In the end, I voted for him and on Super Tuesday he didn't win the nomination, but he made it almost unreachable for anyone else.

Now, 22 days from the general election, I hesitate once more. I haven't been able to say just why. I haven't been able to get the handle on the ideas lurking below the surface. Then, today I read Esquire's endorsement of Barack Obama. Beginning the second section were these words:

"Obscured by Obama's dithering is the fact that his Republican counterpart is one of the first presidential candidates in history to run as a parody of himself. John McCain has decided on a cheap and dishonarable campaign. He has embraced the tactics with which he was slandered in 2000, and he has hired the people responsible for them. In so doing, he has become something of a mockery of everything he once purported to be."

That's it. Those are the words I was missing. I've been waiting for 18 months for the John McCain of 2000 to return. I kept thinking that once the nomination was done he'd stop bending to the will of "the base" of his party. When that didn't happen, I kept thinking that John would return at the convention. Then he nominated Sarah Palin and while the tactician in me thought it might have been a brilliant move, whatever passion I had left for John McCain evaporated.

He's not the same man he was. He is a mockery. He has sold his own soul to be the president and it pains me to watch. I liked his immigration plan. I liked his position on torture. I liked the Gang of 14. I didn't like campaign finance reform per se, but I liked the idea of fairness in elections. Now...it's all gone. Lost in the murmur or "Rovian" advisers and focus group panelists. McCain is running the George W. Bush campaign while trying to be distinct and different from Bush. John, you can't have it both ways. You look like a fool trying.

If I wasn't staring at the idea of Nancy Pelosi having a rubber stamp in the Oval Office, I'd hesitate longer. When push comes to shove I'll do like I've done for the entirity of this presidential campaign and hope that once the ballots have been cast my old friend John McCain will come back.

More of the same?

When have we ever elected a president based on his legislative record? Maybe before television...maybe before talk radio...maybe before the free press...

The vote for president is the vote for an ideal. It's why we are always so dissatisfied with our choices. Those clamoring around for Barack Obama want change so badly that they don't care if no one has told them what that change will be. If we get too specific then our presidential candidates drift further from what we want. The Obama campaign has also been cast in the theme of hope and most fitting that it should be. We have to hope that Obama's change is the right change for the country.

Of course, we have to hope that the change to John McCain would be the right change, too. It's hard to say. It's always hard to say.

How will the office change them? It has changed all the other occupants. There's a reason their hair always goes gray. The question isn't what these two men have said they'll do. It probably isn't even a matter of legistislation sponsored and voted. It has to do with each man's default setting. In the crucible of the Oval Office, as the ills of the world bore down upon them, what is the reaction of John McCain and Barack Obama?

I don't have that answer and am forced to guess. I won't vote for Barack Obama not because I don't trust what he says, not because I think he lacks the experience or judgment and not even because I disagree with him on key issues of our day. I can't vote for Barack Obama because I fear that Barack Obama's default setting is that the American people needn't take responsibility for themselves when the government could so handily take care of everything for us.

I work with the government everyday. Their inspectors work full-time in my plant under obligation to protect the food supply. Guess what? They don't. I read government legislation for a living and have to interpret and enforce it. Guess what? Congress doesn't have a clue. Look no further than COOL (Country of Origin Labeling). It took eight years to write, pass and implement. The week it went into effect, 31 senators wrote a letter to the USDA saying that the final rule the USDA developed wasn't what they had meant it to be at all. Eight years to write a law they didn't intend to write? God Bless America!

Barack Obama wants more of that. Barack Obama wants more regulation. Barack Obama wants more government control. I don't and so I don't want Barack Obama. Of course, if he's elected my job security goes up and I'll probably have to hire a half dozen more people so he might create jobs. And your bacon will cost $10 a pound, a burger at McDonald's will cost about the same. How long those new jobs will last at that price is hard to say?

Change is not always such a great thing. I don't care for Obama's brand of change. And the voting public doesn't care one bit about the finer points of COOL or that Obama voted for it and McCain voted against it.

If we could change the voters, now that's the kind of change I'm looking for.

Change?

Barack Obama. Say the name Barack Obama and you are sure to elicit a wide variety of emotions. You will probably also get a few loud verbal responses. Some people think he's the next Christ, who will save our country, and deep down they believe that as President of the United States he will somehow save the world. Others will tell you that he is the Anti-Christ, come to lead the nation and, therefore, the world to Hell at a high rate of speed.
His avid, or rabid, supporters will say look at all the new people he is getting involved in politics. "Look at how excited those people are to take part in the democratic process."
I say, when the masses realize that they can, they will vote themselves money out of other people's pockets. This was one of the reasons the founding fathers were afraid to give the right to vote to anyone other than a land owner. Their reasoning was that land owners were the ones paying the taxes. They were concerned that people not paying taxes would vote to raise their taxes without it costing.
It appears that many of his voters are avid in his support, but aren't very intelligent on the issues, or what Barack's history and plans really are. They can tell you how bad McCain is and they'll tell you how big a joke Governor Palin is, but they couldn't tell you the last 5 pieces of legislation Barack sponsored or co-sponsored. That's like saying you are a Packers fan but not knowing who their coach is, or what town they play in.
This frightens me. This means that a group of know-nothings may elect the next President of the United States, and he may be the worst thing for the country, but they neither know or care because they are caught up in a Cause. They are out to "Change" the world. Well I "Hope" they get a clue soon. If you are going to vote, make sure you know what you are voting for.