netmouse: (Default)
netmouse ([personal profile] netmouse) wrote2006-08-08 06:18 am

Primary Voting Time

Last night [livejournal.com profile] thatguychuck went door-to-door with me to ask Democrats in my precinct to write me in for Precinct Delegate (Ward 5, Precinct 6). We split up the list, odds and evens, and campaigned from right after dinner (which chuck cooked while I organized the lists) to right after dark (Thank you, Chuck!). It was great to have a companion as upbeat and forward as he is to walk around with. I especially admired how outgoing he was to people we encountered on the street.

One such encounter sticks out in my mind this morning. As this fellow approached us I asked if he was voting in the Primary. He got a bit surly and declared as he passed us that he didn't vote at all. Chuck called after him, "You should vote, man, it makes change happen!" to which he responded, "That's a lie."

I believe this attitude is pervasive in our country, and I hope you will resist this kind of hopelessness and go out and participate today. Vote! It's not just a right, it's a responsibility.

A number of the people I spoke to were not so hopeless but were very concerned. Our president can't put a sentence together. Our children are not learning handwriting any more, or history, or how to build things and do science. Our country is facing a competitive international scene that is largely angry and disappointed with us. It is time for change.

There are many things that one can do to try to effect change. One of them is vote. I encourage you to vote in your local primary today (Updated to add: or whenever your primaries are, where you live).
ext_13495: (Default)

[identity profile] netmouse.livejournal.com 2006-08-09 06:21 pm (UTC)(link)
In 1999 he voted for H.R. 2587 that banned gay couples from adopting children in the District of Columbia

Other than that last part, I was really starting to like him.

I certainly support better ballot access for independent candidates.

The bitch of it is, you have to get inside the system in order to reform the system. And it seems that getting inside the system usually changes people to where they are less likely to attempt reform.

I would love to see actual, interesting debates, and a larger plurality of candidates.