Good grief.

[gpeefalt.livejournal.com]

Comments

[weswilson]

A lot of people keep asking me what I think is going to happen in the elections. I keep replying, "I have no friggin' idea. We all thought the republicans would lose in the LAST election, and look what happened." I don't feel I can count on Americans to wield their votes in a manner consistant with reputable polls.

[gpeefalt.livejournal.com]

True dat. I'm gonna need an extra-large bottle of antacid to deal with next Tuesday night.

[somefantastic10.livejournal.com]

For what its worth, George Bush officially won 51% of the vote in 2004, as opposed to Kerry's 48%.

[ccnuggie.livejournal.com]

no wai, it was diebold 40%, Kerry 48%, and Bush 11%!!!111

[somefantastic10.livejournal.com]

This is exactly how i feel.

[zombiesmustdie.livejournal.com]

Democrats: The Scott Norwood of elections

[marksism.livejournal.com]

I am from Buffalo.

:( scott norwood.

[zombiesmustdie.livejournal.com]

15 years later and i still can't decide if i feel bad for him or if i'd punch him in the balls if ever met him

[saint-boner.livejournal.com]

With paperless balloting an election is never out of reach. It could be a squeeker!

The sad part is that The Dems who have done nothing but bend over for Bush thinks they deserve a reward. Where is a third Party when you need them. All we ever do is chase our tail.

[vlion.livejournal.com]

I beg your pardon, the libertarians are right over there. As are the greens and the socialists.

However, to join the libertarian cause, you must submit a 10-page thesis detailing why government is bad, remembering to quote Ayn Rand here and there; to join the greens, you must save 50 animals from death(and putting some plants in your house would help), and to join the socialists, you have to remember that business is wholle out to get you.


Of course, there is the fourth option, the anarchists, but they would rather blow stuff up than actually politically do something.

/parody off

I suspect the small government people in the US are going to coalesce into a party. Right now you can see it in the strong rise of Libertarianism, but strictly speaking, it has tenents that are too radical to implement in current society, and generally there's a trend of, hmm, eggheadness in their platforms. So I suspect that practical libertarians, small-government republicans, and small government democrats(if there is such a thing- maybe isolationist democracts?) will start voting in at least an unofficial bloc.

[commutativeboy.livejournal.com]

WHile your suspicions may be true, currently, no third party has significant influence in US politics. In Canada, we have four parties that strongly influence the political playing field (Conservatives, Liberals, Bloc Quebecois, and NDP). With the minority Conservative government currently in place (and the minority Liberal government preceeding it), this influence is particularly strong and the parties must cooperate in order to get things done. There's no comparison to the US system since our parliament isn't all-or-nothing.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

I'd be happier if our football wasn't made by Diebold.

How True

[johnny9fingers.livejournal.com]

What is there to say.
Happened to us (the British) last time.
I doubt the GOP will lose both houses: 'a week's a long time in politics'. Though my personal preference would be for a 'libertarian-left' (which seems oxymoronic) leaning government, thankfully I don't qualify to vote (& even if I did I wouldn't be represented by either of your parties anyway, which is the same as it is for me in England).
It's not just you guys - I am beginning to think that democracies carry within them the seeds of their own destruction; the better the democracy, the more open it is to abuse: which is why the checks and balances of any democracy, be they constitution, supreme court, separation of responsibility, or accountability, should be guarded, monitored, and nurtured, rather than ridden roughshod over at the slightest political opportunity (which is not to gainsay the gravity of the losses which led to such aforementioned political opportunity).
Fucking hell, you guys went to war with us over the same principles (but we both got over it, thank god), surely you can defend these self-same principles a little more vigorously.
I can't see you repealing the second amendment as easily as some of the other parts of the constitution recently suspended.
Sometimes I know I'm a bit thick: I just don't get it.

[johnny9fingers.livejournal.com]

No, that's a week on Friday.

[vlion.livejournal.com]

Heee.

We'll see.

[johnny9fingers.livejournal.com]

So right, again, about the libertarian thing. The conventional alternatives have worked (or not) right up to the sea-change. I'm not so certain they're working now.
Practical Libertarianism is an attractive idea, but only if it can solve the problems we face, or at least make a start on solving them. I don't care what flavour of government is in power as long as it protects peoples' rights, doesn't go to war unnecessarily, doesn't pass legislation for it's own sake, and sets about solving...off the top of my head (& not in any order): carbon emissions, the intractable Middle East question, the West's relationship with China, North Korea, and my ability to mouth off at any given moment on any subject. Oh sorry, that last one's not government business. But even with small government, these things have to be tackled.
I think government should be about dealing with the things in its remit & most of that list falls squarely thereupon.
If folk want to vote for their politicians to do stuff in addition to this, that's up to them and what democracy is all about. Big government Democrats, or hugely overspending Republicans, do both more and less than is strictly needed.
In the end, I think most people would rather spend their tax dollars on things that aren't a waste of resources, ingenuity, or human life.
Most of us (if asked) would rather do things with the value 'good' than things with the value 'bad', to use two inexact terms awaiting a debate on semantics. I think we'd like our tax dollars spent in the same way, but I'm prepared to be put right on this.
Now you guys have a choice of what you consider to be the lesser of two evils, which is not the same thing at all, but it's still the only choice you've got. Whatever happens now, someone's got to pay for it, and with (sort of) real money.
And this election seems like it's going down to the wire.
We wait with bated breath.

A week is a long time in politics.

[johnny9fingers.livejournal.com]

John Kerry.
Who needs dodgy ballot machines when...
It doesn't matter even if he's been misrepresented, (which of course he has - no veteran would criticise serving troops). All that matters is that the issues will have been blurred enough that any result is now possible, and which is where the dodgy ballot machines may well come in to their own.
During the 'Cultural Revolution' in China, people learned to read between the lines, because they had to. Will that happen, I wonder, in the West?