Yesterday as I was voting this little old lady (I'm guessing in her 70s) next to me finished filling out her ballot, and as she started walking to the ballot box quietly muttered, "There, I voted. Now if I want to bitch, I can bitch." Such an awesome statement for our current political situation. I have no problem with that though (provided one votes - write in someone rather than not vote if you don't like the candidates), I'm just glad the ads are ending.
As most of you probably know or have noticed, I have a random quote at the bottom of the pages of my web site, including my browser's home page. Anyways, last night this quote attributed to Edward Murrow came up, and it reminded me of all the political ads that have been on recently. Then tonight I saw more ads and I thought of how appropriate the quote is right before elections.
When the politicians complain that TV turns the proceedings into a circus, it should be made clear that the circus was already there, and that TV has merely demonstrated that not all the performers are well trained.
While I was looking at the web sites of different candidates in the primary, I found a rather annoying trend. Too many don't really say anything other than that they want the position. One I saw even looked like a geocities site from the 90s. However, many have introduced an "Issues" section, which seems like a great thing at first. But in looking at the sites, it seems everyone has the same 4-6 issues, and list that they are important and need to be handled. The problem is most don't say how. I could see maybe not having details on a couple pending finding out available resources and options, but say that and at least give a general indication of the direction they'd like. I think it's great that more people are sick of the existing politicians and think they can do better. Unfortunately thinking one can do better without having actually thought of or being willing to state how doesn't help a lot. Even more unfortunate is most people will just think "oh, they care about that" and assume based on party or other reasons that are just as ridiculous that they will agree with the candidate.
That said, MN primaries are Tuesday. Find the candidates in your area and search a bit. The 3 "major parties" all have multiple candidates at the state level (senate), and within the metro it appears several areas have competition within parties for senate and/or house positions. As the primary determines who's on the general election ballot, you may want to consider the party of your voting in the primary, as you may not want to vote for the same people who you'd necessarily want in office. For example if you're OK with anyone from a certain party (hopefully not just because they're in that party), but you have a strong preference of a certain candidate in a different party, you may want to cast your primary votes in that party. Voting one way in the primary doesn't mean you have to vote for the same people in the general election. So make sure you vote on Tuesday.
So I'm glancing through the sorta news and reading the stats. First one that hits me is that Minnesota's government is ranked "seventh least corrupt". I find the implied expected corruptness interesting. Apparently we're also 3rd ranked third in overall government performance. That third place is a B- (tied with 6 other states). The kicker is "Highest marks were for money management." Yea... Apparently we're first in percent of people getting colon inspections though, which may or may not be related to being the healthiest state on average.
Copyright ©2000-2008 Jeremy Mooney (jeremy-at-qux-dot-net)
