Actually the most unpopular candidate would be kicked out of the country, slowly leading to cleaning up the government. I figure officals would either become more ethical (at least hide the skeletons in their closet better) or become ethical enough not to win the vote.
Maybe we could do this on a state basis and every four years on a national basis. In Utah, for example, we had a fellow lie about his schooling to get into the Sheriffs department and was fired for this. Later, he managed to get into a state administrative position where he was using the state to reimburse erroneous travel expenses which totaled several thousand dollars. In my opinion, a pretty good candidate to ostracize. If we get rid of him, other members of society would learn from his mistake or suffer the same consequence.
Govenors and other high ranking politicians would almost be forced to represent the people rather than pushing their own agendas, for fear of being ostracized. As it stands, politicians only represent the people for the months leading up to an election or reelection.
JP
I voted. I took my five year old with me. I waited until about ten am because I know that the morning line clears out by then, and sure enough there was no line. He was fascinated by the whole thing. They gave him a sticker, too, which he is still wearing. And then we got free cookies at Great Harvest. Yummy.
Voting was cool. People handed out water and chips and fruit and granola bars, there was a guy making burgers, a crazy black lady playing "Celebrate" and dancing in the street, lots of little kids running around. I don't think it's like that every time though.Hey! I'm in a swing state! What about me? Where's my guy making burgers? My granola? my crazy black lady dancing in the street? Here in CO, it's just a bunch of morons waving signs at me and calling my house with prerecorded babble. I did get my Starbucks, though ... apparently Ben and Jerry's is giving out freebies, too, but going all the way to Boulder to get it would defeat the purpose.
I didn't get free Starbucks. So we're even. And we don't have a landline OR TV, so I was spared a lot of that crazy s&*!. Thank the gods.
Well, I'm about as far away from STL as you can get while still being in the same state. (far NW, 90 miles north of KC). It was weird, there was no line at all for last names A-G, very litte for H-N, and an hour+ wait for O-Z.
I doubt many of the people in this town were going to vote Obama, though I heard several jokes about Chicago politics ("Vote early, vote often!" being the general rule there for decades.) I really don't know if that's good or bad in this case.
Honestly, when watching the coverage, you can tell when St. Louis/KC/Columbia's votes are counted becuase there's a sudden shoot to the democrats numbers. At least, that's how it's always been. We'll see this time.
The part of St. Louis where my mom lives is traditionally conservative, but I've seen waaaaaay more Obama signs than McCain, so maybe your town is in the minority?
Also. I waited in line for three hours. It took my roomate 15 minutes cause she's still registered in her parents district. F@@& the suburbs, man, the city's got CHARACTER.
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So you just vote for the lesser of 2 evils.......again.......like every friggin' election since I was old enough to vote.......This sucks, I'm goin' to Canada....naa, it's cold there!Two things:
1. We have the same problem in our recent election
2. It's going to be 18C this week... so not THAT cold/Canuck Threadjack
18C? What's that.....oh wait Celsius? Oh god, you guys are all metric-y!!!! Gaaaahhhh!!! Run!!!
Polls are now closed here. Now we wait
I don't think people realize how easy it is for your income to come in at over 150,000.
Seriously? To me that's a huge amount of money for an individual to make in a year.
I'm not trying to single you out or anything...is this a common belief out there? It just struck me when I read it. I may run in a completely different circle I guess...it just seems a lot of money to me.
Edit - Oh, and I voted this morning as well. About a 30 minute wait in line. No sticker or anything.
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I don't think people realize how easy it is for your income to come in at over 150,000.
Seriously? To me that's a huge amount of money for an individual to make in a year.
I'm not trying to single you out or anything...is this a common belief out there? It just struck me when I read it. I may run in a completely different circle I guess...it just seems a lot of money to me.
Edit - Oh, and I voted this morning as well. About a 30 minute wait in line. No sticker or anything.
Those Jobs are not difficult to find..
As soon as I have my Bachelors and a few more Certs I could find one....In fact I have looked what some people get payed for what i do in the Military and it ranges up around there, with out the degree you can cut about $40,000 off that.
Now keeping a Job that pays that amount..well that is a different story..
By the way... It helps to have the contacts or know where to look... But really it is not that hard.. If I can do it..anyone can, as long as they are willing to make some sacrifices for a few years, And the sacrifices have really ended up not being that bad.. If a bit annoying at times.
I love the Tech World!!!
Edit: on second thought..I think I am over estimating things a bit..
Though I could find a job for $150,000 that is the high end of things.. and with out that degree I have seen the same job doing the same thing offering around $60,000
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F#&* me blue and call me a smvrf...
Put in my ballot for Ralph Nader in pretty quick order, since there was no line here in scenic Putnam Station, New York (pop. 661 - I work and spend most of my time in Ticonderoga, five miles away, but I actually live in f!~%in' Putnam).
No f#*!ing sticker, and some d#&&#*# yokel redneck was giving me s~%# for being "one o' them skin-haids," even though I've got about an inch of hair on my head now. I hate when people make assumptions like that. When you assume, you make an ASS of U and ME.
f~#@ me blue and call me a smvrf...
Put in my ballot for Ralph Nader in pretty quick order, since there was no line here in scenic Putnam Station, New York (pop. 661 - I work and spend most of my time in Ticonderoga, five miles away, but I actually live in f~#@in' Putnam).
No f~#@ing sticker, and some d@!*@#~ yokel redneck was giving me s@%% for being "one o' them skin-haids," even though I've got about an inch of hair on my head now. I hate when people make assumptions like that. When you assume, you make an ASS of U and ME.
Redneck hating on a percieved skinhead? Can't all the racists just get along?[/snark]
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lkl,
Actually, he wouldn't unless he was taking the entire business profits as his personal income. It's personal income over $250k, not business income. This is one of the inaccuracies people seem to believe on both sides about their opponents.EDIT: Link to factcheck.org on this subject.
No I was talking about his personal income. My father as his personal, not business income makes over 150,000 a year. And I'm not 100% sure but I'm pretty sure he hits that 250,000 a year mark. That doesn't mean our business hasn't struggled. And Obama's tax plan has tax benefits for new small businesses from what I understand, or for businesses that can afford to hire new employees (which we can't afford to do). My father's business doesn't qualify for those despite the fact that we struggle in this economy just as much as anyone else.
Hehe.
This is fun.
I voted fairly early this morning.
I live in MA, so my vote doesn't much matter. Obama would have to be caught on film murdering a widowed single mother in front of the children, and even then, it would go to Obama.
All the candidates were abysmal. Neither candidate would do what is necessary to bring the country back on track, which just as F2K said, is balancing the budget and paying down the debt.
Sigh, not enough people were purged from the rolls I guess....
j/k
I voted last Thursday. Georgia has early voting, so I went after I got off work. I ended up waiting about 2 hours in line.
I voted for Obama.
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All the candidates were abysmal. Neither candidate would do what is necessary to bring the country back on track, which just as F2K said, is balancing the budget and paying down the debt.Sad but true. My choice was based merely on whether the candidate was as warped as I was. Hence, Nader.
Were I eligible to vote, I would have been forced to go Nader as well. As a Libertarian (card carrying since '88...), all I can say is: Barr? Seriously? What in the happy H3!! were y'all smoking????
Obama and McCain? To quote our favorite playtest posters, let me say the two main choices are "full of fail and made of suck"...
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McCain's winning the popular vote!
Yay electoral college![/sarcsnark]
Al Gore can relate to that pain as well. As for me, I voted for Obama and was happy to do so. Several of the battleground states are still close, so I think this election is far from a sure thing. I just hope Democrats learned their lesson in 2000. No matter what CNN says, no matter how sure a thing it looks make sure you show up and vote.
My state will absolutely be for McCain, which I don't particularly like. That said, I too would support doing away with the electoral college and going to a true democracy. That way every vote really does count. Personally, I think this whole election probably comes down to Pennsylvania and Virginia. I might be wrong and it is too early to know for sure. That said, I am optimistic that Obama will win this thing and we will inaugurate our first African American president.
Now that any substantive political discussion is purely academic....
has anyone seen that Sarah Palin GIF where she looks like she's saying "My p@!&$'s so hot!"?
I mean really, she's the kind of woman I could... well... break the forum rules for.
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As a Libertarian (card carrying since '88...), all I can say is: Barr? Seriously? What in the happy H3!! were y'all smoking????I was thinking the same. What the hell is that dude's problem? Does he even know what his party's platform is?
The question I had was: did the party even look at his voting record?
Texas 74% McCain!!! YeeeeHaw!!!Texas 100% Mccain, Austin 100% Obama. Get it right, bub :)
Actually; Dallas and Harris County...
They're just counting what counties report in I reckon.
Texas 74% McCain!!! YeeeeHaw!!!
Makes me frankly ashamed to be a Texan.
- Ashavan
There was a line stretching out the door of the polling site...for people with names in the range M-S. Luckily I fall into the T-Z and so I walked right up, no lines no waiting. Though I'm not a huge fan of McCain, my vote went there as I too fear the potential of a super-majority. Democracy works best when dialogue, negotiation, and hard choices are necessary. Hopefully this election will be a wake-up call to Republicans to get back to Small Government.
Of course, I'm in Alabama so we're solid Republican on most everything anyway.
Texas 74% McCain!!! YeeeeHaw!!!Makes me frankly ashamed to be a Texan.
- Ashavan
Why? Did you really think Texas would vote in a socialist?
Obama's ahead in the poplars!
Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!
Heathy, get away from the TV before you drive yourself nuts.
Maybe to get support for secession.Why? Did you really think Texas would vote in a socialist?Texas 74% McCain!!! YeeeeHaw!!!Makes me frankly ashamed to be a Texan.
- Ashavan
Terrorist!
Yay! McCain's ahead in the popler vote again!!!
That's just so un-American.