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A *Real* New Year's Resolution: Work to Take Back Congress

By Jeralyn, Section Elections
Posted on Sat Dec 31, 2005 at 11:42:48 PM EST
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by Last Night in Little Rock

Surely you've heard the old saw: "Democracy is not a spectator sport." The earliest primaries are in a matter of four or five months, and they will shape the next Congress. Will it remain in Republican hands? Can we even afford to leave it in Republican hands any longer?

It took me until today to amortize in my mind the small fortune I contributed to losing candidates in '04, but I don't consider it wasted. I don't consider the campaigning time wasted, either. The old college try, and all that ....

My state primaries are in May. Soon enough I'll have to start contributing again and working for candidates.

Only in America, touted as the "greatest democracy," do less than 50% of the voters vote. We are a disgrace.

Resolve to be active in politics and take Congress back from the looters, plunderers, and sycophants charged with maintaining the public trust and public fisc who lack any scruples, concern for the people, or the cojones to vote an article of impeachment.

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    A *Real* New Year's Resolution: Work to Take Back Congress | 15 comments (15 topical)
    Re: A *Real* New Year's Resolution: Work to Take (none / 0) (#1)
    by roy on Sat Dec 31, 2005 at 10:34:35 PM EST
    It'll be a good election year for Democrats. Also a good year for "third-party" candidates. The problems which caused voters to turn away from the Dems are still in place, but now many conclude that the GOP doesn't have the solution. So Independents, Greens, Libertarians(*), and so on, will look more viable than usual. But, I have to complain about this minor point:
    Only in America, touted as the "greatest democracy," do less than 50% of the voters vote.
    False. *Random note, I consider myself a small-l libertarian. The political party is just nutty.

    Re: A *Real* New Year's Resolution: Work to Take (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Jan 01, 2006 at 08:29:42 AM EST
    It had better be "a good year" for the Democrats. If they can't win more seats in an off-year election which historically trends to the party not holding the Whitehouse with the administration suffering as much blowback as it has over the last year, there is no hope for them at all (which, given how little their policies resonate with the average voter asked to pay for them, they probably don't).

    Re: A *Real* New Year's Resolution: Work to Take (none / 0) (#3)
    by BigTex on Sun Jan 01, 2006 at 09:43:18 AM EST
    I dunno. Looks more and more like the GOP is going to have a big year, still 11 months out is a long time to go. But with the economy continuing to grow, the President finally starting to hammer that point home to divert criticism away from Iraq, and the reduction of troop levels from Iraq, the table is starting to look like it is more favorable for the GOP. As long as the economy keeps running in basically the same manner, the GOP will start to get more and more credit. The Dow will hit 11K again this year at some point. That will be the key event that forces attention to the economy. Outside of that, other events will capture the public's attention for a time this year. Alito's confirmation hearings will take center stage for at least a while. Ditto any plan announced and acted upon quickly in the state of the union address. Janurary will be a good month for the GOP, espically if the market hits 11K in Jan. That is all the springboard they need right now to change the focus from Iraq. This is going to be a very unCW election. GOP will have strength based on the economy. That's never a good sign for the dems.

    Re: A *Real* New Year's Resolution: Work to Take (none / 0) (#4)
    by Dadler on Sun Jan 01, 2006 at 10:07:27 AM EST
    Tex, What on earth are you basing that assumption on? The economy sucks, soldiers are dying in a pointless war (along with thousands of Iraqi civilians), are values are being undermined by a sociopathic executive branch that thinks it doesn't have to answer to anyone, Valerie Plame, Terrie Schaivo, the party is under a cloud of corruption, etc., etc.,...I just don't see it.

    Re: A *Real* New Year's Resolution: Work to Take (none / 0) (#5)
    by swingvote on Sun Jan 01, 2006 at 10:50:04 AM EST
    Dadler, What do you base your claim that the economy sucks on? The high growth rate? The increasedemployment numbers? The new jobs created? I'm not arguing the rest of your commnet, but where do you get your news on the economy from?

    Re: A *Real* New Year's Resolution: Work to Take (none / 0) (#6)
    by Lora on Sun Jan 01, 2006 at 10:52:42 AM EST
    You cast a vote on a brand-new Diebold or ES&S electronic voting machine. Your vote goes into the black box and only the experts, hired by these corporations, really know how to get it out. There is no piece of paper that you saw with your own eyes to show how you voted. Maybe there is a cash register type roll that with a magnifying glass a human being could actually verify that a vote was cast. But as to whether or not the vote was recorded as you intended? No way of knowing. Which vote was yours? If you could tell, so could somebody else. Even if you're lucky enough to have an actual paper ballot, the machines counted it, didn't they? Try to do an audit and you will find out they are either illegal or so wrapped up in red tape as to be nearly impossible. If by a miracle you're lucky enough to get an audit, a friendly computer person will show the election people just how to make their machine totals match the paper audit. Look a little closer and you may find that a little device called a memory card can change the vote on the machine without leaving a trace. So...before I spend any more of my money supporting candidates, I want to make sure that when I vote, for WHOMEVER I vote, that my vote is counted as I intended it to be. Don't you?

    Re: A *Real* New Year's Resolution: Work to Take (none / 0) (#7)
    by swingvote on Sun Jan 01, 2006 at 11:12:15 AM EST
    Lora, Yes and no. Yes, I would like to be sure that my vote is counted and that it counts for the person I voted for. Problem is, no system of secret balloting can be guaranteed. No matter what method you use, or what demon you choose, we still have to count on the people doing the counting, and the problem is as much with them as with anyone, or anything, else.

    Re: A *Real* New Year's Resolution: Work to Take (none / 0) (#8)
    by soccerdad on Sun Jan 01, 2006 at 11:36:52 AM EST
    real wages for the average worker have been unchanged or decreased despite moderate inflation, the participation rate is down 1% indicating many people have given up looking, the increased number of jobs in addition to being one of the lowest rates for a recovery in history fails to keep up with the increase in population. Many people who are working are "underemployed" i.e. have been forced to take jobs way below their training. Only those out of touch with reality can see the increased current account deficits, the increase in outsourcing, and the housing bubble and not be concerned. The recent recovery has not been built on jobs per se, but has been based on increased debt taken on by consumers as their housing increased in value. But my debt in the hands of the chineese central bank does not help me sleep eeasier. for sources see, Brad delong, Angry Bear, Maxspeak, Calculated Risk, Brad Setzer, etc and even Greenspans latest speechs.

    Re: A *Real* New Year's Resolution: Work to Take (none / 0) (#9)
    by Sailor on Sun Jan 01, 2006 at 11:45:18 AM EST
    Problem is, no system of secret balloting can be guaranteed. No matter what method you use, or what demon you choose, we still have to count on the people doing the counting
    Having witnesses from each party as you manually recount paper ballots is as secure as people can get. Having a 3rd party, a major corporation with ties to one party who refuses to disclose their software, tell you what the vote count is is untrustworthy. Especially since it has been shown over and over how they violated the election laws and how unsecure their systems are.

    Re: A *Real* New Year's Resolution: Work to Take (none / 0) (#10)
    by scarshapedstar on Sun Jan 01, 2006 at 05:10:00 PM EST
    Roy, I don't really consider Sierra Leone, for example, to be a functioning democracy.

    Re: A *Real* New Year's Resolution: Work to Take (none / 0) (#11)
    by scarshapedstar on Sun Jan 01, 2006 at 05:11:55 PM EST
    I mean, I gathered that the point of Roy's post was that the U.S. actually has a better voter turnout than most third-world nominal democracies. Which is certainly reassuring, but seems to miss the point by about a mile.

    Re: A *Real* New Year's Resolution: Work to Take (none / 0) (#12)
    by roy on Sun Jan 01, 2006 at 05:36:00 PM EST
    Scar, I was just pointing out a minor factual error. Sometimes people make criticisms without snide subtext. It wasn't even "the point" of my post, which was mainly about third parties. Do you think it's reasonable to expect they'll get a better-than-usual share of the seats?

    Re: A *Real* New Year's Resolution: Work to Take (none / 0) (#13)
    by Lora on Sun Jan 01, 2006 at 08:12:40 PM EST
    justpaul, Every vote counting method has its drawbacks, but as Sailor pointed out, a manual count of paper in the public eye is much more secure than electronic voting. Yes, there can be fraud with paper. However, with electronic voting the way it stands today, a single person has the capability to change thousands of votes without leaving a trace, the system is full of gaping security holes, and the legislature seems unwilling to fix it. With many of these systems you literally have to trust the company who makes the software and runs the election (yes, in some cases the election officials take a back seat to the company employees.) Personally, I want paper and I want it counted where I can see it.

    Re: A *Real* New Year's Resolution: Work to Take (none / 0) (#14)
    by BigTex on Mon Jan 02, 2006 at 05:47:07 AM EST
    Keep spewing your ignroant venom Charley. You do more for the GOP than they can do by themselves. As far how do I come to my conclusions about the economy well, since facts have no meaning to you, will refrain from taking the bait and giving you reasson to spew more nonsense. Live on in your delusions. In fact, go out there and trumpet them. All that you will dismiss are yourself and liberals.

    Re: A *Real* New Year's Resolution: Work to Take (none / 0) (#15)
    by Dadler on Mon Jan 02, 2006 at 07:42:24 AM EST
    justpaul, the economy is terrible if you're an average worker. The middle class is disappearing. Wages has been utterly stagnant for decades. The tax system still requires the less wealthy to pay far in excess (in terms of real effect on their lives) of what the wealthy do. I like this quote from Paul Krugman: "These days, Americans make a living selling each other houses, paid for with money borrowed from the Chinese." We can't even hav a national dialogue on what we want money to mean for us in the future. We just treat it like it falls from the sky, like we have no control over it, it's just a tide of free market economics. It's easy, even for people like me, who are comfortable and well taken care of and have access to technology, to think everything's fine. It's not. Look at the number of people begging on the street. I see them every day. Their numbers increase every day, it seems. And worse, we still live with an economy BASED ON WASTING AND CONSUMING AS MUCH AS YOU CAN. That is a recipe for longterm disaster. Consume consume consume, waste waste waste is not the clarion call of a healthy society.

    A *Real* New Year's Resolution: Work to Take Back Congress | 15 comments (15 topical)