Thursday, October 30, 2008

aren't I a big kid now?

So, I voted today. I'd like to say my vote counted, but who am I kidding? It didn't. I'm a lowly 17.52 years old and not able to vote in the actual election in less than a week, so I kid voted. Not only does kid voting not count towards who gets elected, but apparently being less than 6 months too young to vote in the general election also means I can't vote on all the issues. What is that? If I'm expected to be an informed voter in a year, I ought to be able to vote on everything now. I ought to have some practice being an informed voter... I have to say though that unfortunately I wasn't an informed voter this time around. I didn't know the issues for many of the lesser races... I'll have to work on that.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

early voting

Yes, early voting makes voting easier so voter turnout will increase and yes, voter turnout is important, but I don't really like the idea of voter turnout. There is still a week in this campaign. A lot of things can happen in a week. As we have seen, the economy can plummet in a week. People's lives can easily change in a moment, let alone a week. Therefore, I dislike early voting. Early voting is an attempt to ease the voting process, but it also takes away from it. It takes away from the end of the campaign, it takes away from the importance of Election Day, and it takes away from the act of voting itself by making it more of a thing to do when I get the time in the next couple weeks, than something to seriously consider and do now. It takes away from the ritual of voting, which is important to consider because it is a very special thing, voting. Not everyone gets to vote, so the ritual of voting, of casting a ballot that will be counted when so many people can't cast ballots, is a very important part. Early voting makes voting less special by taking away from the captivating, if idealistic, idea of a nation acting as a unit to decide its future.

money

I think the fact that Obama has so much more money than McCain is definitely playing a huge role in this election. McCain simply hasn't gotten enough attention on the TV, at least in my opinion. Yes, he has commercials, etc, but Obama has his own stinking TV station on satellite (and maybe cable). I've also heard that Obama is buying air time to give a speech to the nation and just campaign. I'm not sure how true that is, but simply the idea that a candidate has enough money to do such a thing is astonishing. McCain simply does not have as much money as Obama, so he is having a very hard time competeing with Obama's media attention. I would hope that the American people would have enough intelligence to vote for the person they actually believe in, not necessarily just the one they have seen the most on TV, but I don't know that many Americans will take the time to really examine this election. Therefore, I think McCain, because he has less money, is at a serious disadvantage.

Monday, October 20, 2008

who i am

I don't want to be confused with someone who cares. I'm taking this class to learn about the government because I think everyone should know as much as possible. I enjoy knowledge. I don't enjoy politics. I don't really care about politics. People tend to base too much on politics. I find that annoying. Therefore, I don't make political statements. I didn't go to listen to Palin because I didn't go to listen to Obama. I don't want anyone to misinterpret my actions as preference for one candidate or party over the other. I do prefer some political ideas and beliefs over others, but that is simply because they appeal to me. I know I cannot adequately argue for them, so I will not mention them. For Kole and Danny, I don't know anything about the Libertarian Party. I appreciate limited government, but whether that appreciation coincides with allignment with the Libertarian Party I am at the moment unsure. I guess if I must make a statement it will be that I am for classical liberalism, which, to the best of my knowledge, places a strong emphasis on personal freedoms, and I am for equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome.

Please, anyone, comment on this post in agreement or, as often preferable, disagreement. I urge you. Enlighten me.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Honk For Schools

On the morning of Saturday, October 18, 2008, I campaigned for 3A & 3B at the corner of Aspen and Cherry in Fruita, Colorado. I stood at the four-way intersection there for about an hour and a half getting people to "honk for schools" as my sign said in hopes of garnering support for the school bond measure on the ballot in November. It was actually surprisingly fun. I saw some people I knew, who in turn laughed at me, but if every honk is a vote, my dad said we had one of the best responses yet to the measure. Granted we had some people drive by glaring at us, but generally the response was positive. However, it is still an uphill battle for the bond measure. Not many people know about it and many people don't want their taxes raised, even to help educate our youth.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

First Names

This is really just a random post, but I find it interesting that only female politicians are regularly called by their first and last names. For example, Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, Nancy Pelosi, etc. People talk about the Obama v. McCain debate and the Sarah Palin v. Biden debate. I don't think it really matters or makes a difference, but it is interesting, especially since it is only the first name that makes gender obvious when reading someone's name.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Politics vs. Dinner Conversation

Unfortunately we have company tonight and politics as we all know is not the most appropriate topic for dinner time conversation, so I must say I cannot watch the debate as much as I would like to. I will you tube it tomorrow, or something. My apologies to Mr. Coit that I am not as politically up to date as I should be.

10 years

Obama is trying to bring back the glory and charisma of JFK with his "10 year plan" (which is twice a "5 year plan"). Anyway, JFK's 10 years to the moon plan worked because everyone wanted to get to the moon. It was an American goal, not a Democratic or Republican goal. Therefore, I find it sort of absurd that Obama, who, assuming he wins this election as he hopes, will not even be president in 10 years is trying to compare his energy independence plan to JFK's plan to get to the moon. Yes, everyone in America wants energy independence and wants solutions to other problems; however, unlike getting to the moon, each person has their own ideas as to how to achieve those goals. It will be extremely difficult for Obama to have success in implementing plans that will acheive energy independence by 10 years from now when much of America disagrees on how to achieve such a goal and when he will not even be in charge in 10 years. I think what he needs to do for America is set benchmarks of where he hopes to be in 4 years and not in 10 years. However, the problem is that 4 years from now, America probably won't have seen the change it wants, so Obama must set 10 years from now, when he won't even be in charge, as the time he hopes to see the change he promises; the change for which many people are going to vote for him to lead the country for the next 4 years.

Sorry this is a very biased post. McCain is harder to listen to. He doesn't have such catchy speeches. I haven't picked up on any words I can be nit-picky about. Hopefully soon I will post a more even handed post.

And I'm just being picky about the idea of "10 years." I agree that we need to achieve energy independence.