Voting

Alphecca has this to say this morning on voting:

My polling place opens shortly and I'll be there to cast my ballot.

I want to repeat something I said a couple weeks ago:

I have no intention of staying home and not voting. I intend to vote for whomever I consider WORTHY of my vote and if that is a third party candidate, so be it. I do not believe in the theory that I HAVE TO vote Republican because while they might suck, they don't suck as much as the Democrats.

That defeatest thinking only insures that we continue to get sucky candidates and that each congress will be worse than the one before it.

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What isn't possible --to me at any rate-- is to lamely say that we should just accept mediocrity and corruption and hypocrisy as an acceptable standard for those who govern us. I refuse to compromise on my rights and I refuse to compromise on those who control those rights.

Let me put it another way. If you lived in NY and Republican NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg was running for the U.S. Senate there, would you vote for him simply because he's not a Democrat?

He has something like a point there. I will vote for the candidate that I believe is best fitted to carry my beliefs and concerns to the national debate. Party doesn't generally come into that, except that the Republican candidates in my state are far closer to my stance then the Democrats. And seeing that there are very few third party candidates that are not in the "nut-case" basket at this election, I'll vote in the two party system.

As for mediocrity, hypocrisy and corruption, I really don't see either party as offering a better solution. That's why I don't listen to Pelosi or her ilk ranting about the "culture of corruption." Both parties have the same issue, and to argue otherwise is to ignore realities and history. I vote based on the politicians stand on the topics and not his party. If he/she is found to be lacking ethically, then I won't vote for them again.

As for Bloomberg, I'd not like to vote for him, but considering his city, I'd bet that the alternative candidates would be just as horrendous on gun control, so I'd have to weigh much more in their political stands on other topics to come to a conclusion.

Sadly, the Bloomberg statement makes a clear point about one topic elections and why the electorate proves that they are fools. If you're voting Democratic just because the President is Republican and got us into Iraq, then you are a fool. Weigh the topics completely. Which candidate will support your views the best? If you live by only one topic, you will pay for it on other topics later.