I Have Done My Research And I Have Made My Choices

[Warrigal]

It concerns the primaries which the political parties put on. The primaries are used to winnow down the field to one candidate from each party to compete in the general election. In the general one can vote for any party w/out restriction.

Some primaries are "open" which means any registered voter from any party can show up on primary voting day and vote for anyone w no party restrictions. Other primaries are "closed" and are restricted to members of it's own party which one must be registered to in advance.

My state has a closed primary so I register in that party that controls the outcome most of the time, otherwise I would get no voice at all into state and some local elections. We have a state-wide ballot measure this year which will, if it passes, change that. The closed primary in our state has led, in one party, to the election of candidates w the most extreme viewpoints; moderates are pushed aside in favor of the extremists. This ballot measure was fought tooth and nail by one party and the state. They love their power and don't mind disenfranchising the citizens to maintain and grow their power.

I understand your system, more or less, and I reckon it needs an overhaul to drag it in to the 21st century. However I realise that that is not likely to happen for reasons to do with the Constitution and history.

Our system could do with a bit of tweaking too, but our Constitution was written more than a century after the US one and although not easily amended, it is not nearly as hard to change. Six states are not as unmanageable as fifty.

 

[Radrook]

One candidate is very focused on the right to kill the unborn. The other is very focused on blaming immigrants for all the troubles in the USA. Since I disagree with both, I will pass.

 

[Elsie]

I don't have to say who I'm voting for.

My mom. She passed fourteen years ago this year. When in her 30s, she suffered three miscarriages. Two separate miscarriages were boys, the last one, boy & girl twins. She almost bled to death, was treated at Ft. Hood, Texas Army Hospital, was hospitalized for ten days, where she received a life-saving D&C.

60 years ago she got care NOT allowed today in the state I live in, after #roe was reversed.

I still grieve for my lost siblings. #miscarriage #womenshealthmatters #healthcare #ROE is about more than just abortion. Let's go.

How so VERY heartbreaking fwtxcitywoman for your mom, and you. I am so sorry.
A little after midnight tonight I woke and couldn't get back to sleep, so turned on my T V and watched/listened to two women discuss women's 'right' to abort conceived, innocent human beings growing to completion from nourishment provided within womens' uteruses. I listened to all they said, concentrating closely with an honestly open mind to what they said that pertained to how women not having the right to have an abortion can/does cause a plethora of complex negative problems. Yet I was flummoxed by it all. I soon saw that what they were saying was nonsensical. And I turned off the T V, worried about their words deceiving pregnant girls/women into deciding that abortion is not murder. (imo)

 

[againstthegrain]

I understand your system, more or less, and I reckon it needs an overhaul to drag it in to the 21st century. However I realise that that is not likely to happen for reasons to do with the Constitution and history.

Our system could do with a bit of tweaking too, but our Constitution was written more than a century after the US one and although not easily amended, it is not nearly as hard to change. Six states are not as unmanageable as fifty.

We're being deliberately led to outcomes w the sole intention of increasing the power of those in office and restricting, by any means necessary, the voice of citizens.

Ranked choice voting, makes them ill.

 

[VaughanJB]

I vote. My wife will vote in the US election. This election is second only to the last in giving us an intelligence test of the populace. I don't write that flippantly, I believe it's true. It is truly sad to see how some people think.

 

[old medic]

so having to pick a side in order to vote is unconstitutional in my opinion.

Actually its not... in my opinion..... If you belong to a certain political party, then you have the right to vote in its primary. By being unaffiliated, we still have the right to vote in the primary, but only in one party line.

 

[fwtxcitywoman]

How so VERY heartbreaking fwtxcitywoman for your mom, and you. I am so sorry.
A little after midnight tonight I woke and couldn't get back to sleep, so turned on my T V and watched/listened to two women discuss women's 'right' to abort conceived, innocent human beings growing to completion from nourishment provided within womens' uteruses. I listened to all they said, concentrating closely with an honestly open mind to what they said that pertained to how women not having the right to have an abortion can/does cause a plethora of complex negative problems. Yet I was flummoxed by it all. I soon saw that what they were saying was nonsensical. And I turned off the T V, worried about their words deceiving pregnant girls/women into deciding that abortion is not murder. (imo)

Using abortion as birth control is just wrong. I am 100% for certain exclusions to the current law. Women where I live no longer have the option for medically necessary abortions or D&Cs. My mother would have bled to death....I vividly remember her yelling at me to bring her a glass, to the bathroom. She wanted to collect the fetal material which she graciously prevented me from seeing. As a child, that would have been traumatic. It was years before she could speak about her losses.

 

[gruntlabor]

I vote. My wife will vote in the US election. This election is second only to the last in giving us an intelligence test of the populace. I don't write that flippantly, I believe it's true. It is truly sad to see how some people think.

Some of us measure the worth of a person by his IQ, you have called some of us 'pig ignorant'. Some people are measured by their wealth, or physical attributes, or fame, or accomplishments. Tolstoy believed that the peasant is the only person of true worth.
Think labor. And attempting to do without it.

 

[Warrigal]

We're being deliberately led to outcomes w the sole intention of increasing the power of those in office and restricting, by any means necessary, the voice of citizens.

Ranked choice voting, makes them ill.

We call it preferential voting and it is optional. It can lead to minority government. Minority government requires negotiation and some compromise.

When the government has a clear majority in the House and the Senate, they have a mandate to pass legislation that was part of the policies that they put to the voters. This does not necessarily result in the best legislation. They can become cocksure and arrogant.

 

[dilettante]

"Wah, wah, I can't get my way. I want the rules of the game changed to favor me."

Nope.

 

[gruntlabor]

I listened to all they said, concentrating closely with an honestly open mind to what they said that pertained to how women not having the right to have an abortion can/does cause a plethora of complex negative problems. Yet I was flummoxed by it all. I soon saw that what they were saying was nonsensical. And I turned off the T V, worried about their words deceiving pregnant girls/women into deciding that abortion is not murder. (imo)

We do try, but there is no such thing as an 'open mind'.

 

[StarSong]

"Wah, wah, I can't get my way. I want the rules of the game changed to favor me."

Nope.

Wah, yourself. You're the only one on here who's whining about Biden stepping down, endorsing her and turning this into a much more competitive election.

Biden had every legal and ethical right to do this. (It ultimately matters little whether he was pressured into it. Nobody had a literal gun to his head.)

Furthermore, the overwhelming number of Democrats who voted for Biden in the primary are delighted with the change at the top of the ticket.

Other than in the unlikely event you happen to be a registered Democrat who voted for Biden and are bereft at his deciding against running, you have no standing to complain.

 

[chic]

True, I suggested everyone just not vote, but I know that's not going to happen....even though I seriously believe it would solve a lot of problems with elections, and probably immediately.

I voted. But Americans should never have to chose the lesser of two evils. That should never happen. Also, would Americans please remember that the US doesn't have only 2 political parties? Please!

As to Jefferson's quote, I say non-participation is one of the most powerful ways to participate. It sends a very clear, very powerful message.

One example of that is when Americans left the country to avoid the draft during the Vietnam war. They weren't just avoiding the military, most of them were protesting our involvement in 'Nam through non-participation.

The thing is in America we have only 2 viable parties. No one else ever gets elected. Unlike in the U.K.

Here if you vote indie party it's a throw away vote so why even bother?

 

[Murrmurr]

The thing is in America we have only 2 viable parties. No one else ever gets elected. Unlike in the U.K.

Here if you vote indie party it's a throw away vote so why even bother?

Partly to send a message, but mainly because I have to vote for whoever I believe is best for my country no matter what.

In 12 presidential elections, I voted for a major-party candidate 4 or 5 times. They were obvious choices, and only 1 of them lost the election....and not by much.

Most of my 3rd-party congressional candidates who have won seats in either house didn't get much accomplished because a lot of the major party members obstruct their efforts any way they can. 3rd-party house members are given a really hard time. And that's putting it mildly. (that seems to be getting a little better lately, though)

 

[Matrix]

I know this thread has been affected by those who couldn't resist sharing political views, instead of going through the whole thread and removing individual posts, I simply locked it.

Maybe in the future, we can make a game out of situations like this: start a new thread to identify the first post that turned the thread political.