cellio | obligatory election post

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obligatory election post

I'm disappointed by Bush's win, but I don't think it's the end of the world just yet. I'm more frightened by the strangle-hold that the Republican party now has on the federal government. I don't want any party to control all three branches. With a Republican congress, a Republican white house, and several Supremes likely being appointed during the next term, this is a far cry from the balance of power that was designed into the system. Supremes are for a long, long time, compared to presidents. We need to work hard in the mid-term elections, and we need to make sure our so-called representatives hear from us, frequently and numerously.

I'm not about to flee the country like some people are discussing; that just makes things worse for those left behind. And it lets the Bush camp win. While it's tempting to say to the south and heartland "you made this mess; you deserve the results", I'm not ready to let them destroy my country without opposition. The 51% don't have more rights to be here, and to be heard, than the 49%.

By the way, I've heard people saying that the Democrats didn't do enough to get the vote out. I don't know about elsewhere, but I have been bombarded with phone calls, flyers on my car, and flyers stuck in my front door reminding me to vote, and almost all of them have been identifiably from Democrats or affiliated organizations. A couple were anonymous. No obvious Bushites (though I did get some calls supporting the Republican senate candidate). Just a data point.

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From what I've been able to find so far, the Democrats were very successful at getting the vote out, and unusually successful at getting younger voters out compared to the average election. What wasn't expected was that the Republicans were very successful at GOTV as well, so the percentages didn't change the way folks expected. Plus, some of the demographics (Hispanics are the one I've been seeing most often) didn't break nearly as much toward the Democrats as had been planned.

Meh. People are going to be wonking and second-guessing the details of this election for a while; I've already heard rumors of "Hilary's people accusing Edwards of posturing with his 'continue to fight for you' speech from this morning in a run-up to the next primary," as well as a lot of folks (including an anonymous contributor to an elevator graffiti whiteboard at work) calling for Dean to take over running the DNC.

I'm not as convinced that's the most productive focus to take, but people deal with trauma in their own ways and this does beat the "watching the curtain of a dark national night sweep across America over the course of the evening, as it was driven home that not only weren't we winning, but we'd never win anything again" school of response.

I'm not as convinced that's the most productive focus to take, but people deal with trauma in their own ways

True. I just hope it doesn't become the national obsessive conversation topic for four years like the last one did in some circles. I'd have to invest in Nerf weaponry if that happens. :-)

I have some Nerf weaponry that I'd be glad to give you. :)

It's like grief. Honestly. I cried all day yesterday. I hated every single person that voted for Bush (including my brothers). I was angry. I was bitter. I questioned the existance of God.

Today I'm more cynical. I'm not crying every time I talk about the election, but I do tear up when I hear the news/see a headline (so I'm avoiding that for a while). I need time to process this, and in my own way I will. Yes, for a few days (hopefully not weeks), I will be a cynical and hateful bitch. I don't want to be. I really don't. But I think for my sake (i.e., stress level), I need to work through this in my own time and own way.

So, I guess what I'm saying is, give it some time. People will come around and realize there are more productive ways to turn this country around. (To quote Obi Wan, "There are alternatives to fighting."

unusually successful at getting younger voters out compared to the average election

Actually, from what I've read, this isn't exactly true. The largest number of 18-26 voters ever turned out in this election. But the PROPORTION of younger voters to other voters remained virtually identical to that of the two previous presidential elections.

I probably could have said that better. That's my understanding too - the absolute numbers were way up, and in that sense the GOTV campaigns were successful, but since the proportion didn't change you have lots of people saying "hmpf, all that talk about the youth vote, and where were they?"

The Democrats did a fine job turning out the vote. However, the Republicans capitalized on a few critical issues, including gay marriage amendments. President Bush, when expressing his gratitude to his campaign team, should probably offer thanks to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, which made gay marriage a national issue.

The Bush/Cheney ticket was eminently beatable (not an unpleasant prospect to this libertarian), but not by a dour hard left northeast liberal coupled with an ambulance chaser (a worse prospect).

That's a good point. A lot of folks probably went to the polls to vote against "those perverts getting our rights", and voted for Bush while they were there.

I agree that Bush/Cheney was beatable. I suspect the fact that a lot of Kerry's supporters couldn't muster much more than "anyone but Bush" and "hold your nose and vote for him anyway; it's important" didn't help.

Not everyone in the south contributed to making the mess. I did my part to make a change. :-) And I plan to continue living in the south. I happen to like living near the Appalachians. I do admit to be more afraid of openly expressing my opinions than I have ever been in 40 years (less the 3 in New York state) of living in the North and South Carolina. I'll continue to vote though.

I agree. I don't want people judging me by what 51% of my fellow voters did, so it is not right for me to similarly judge people from red states.

I'm not afraid of expressing my opinions at home, north of the Mason-Dixon line, but if I travelled a lot in certain parts of the country I'd probably end up self-censoring at times. Which isn't right; people need to stand up for free expression. But people are imperfect.

The funny thing is I haven't been as aware of self-censoring as I have been the past couple of years. I have probably been doing it all along, but not as heavily. Thank goodness I am surrounded by mostly liberals at church.

I appear to be mostly libertarian (though online political quizzes regularly crash when trying to figure me out). And I find that my type is FAR more likely to be censored where I live now (Northern Virginia) than further south in Virginia where I used to live. (The local Democrats 'round here really don't support free expression unless you agree with them. And don't even get me started about the local public schools.)

No obvious Bushites

Somehow, the pronounciation of that phase is amusing ;-) The thing that did bother me about the election was the number of states that passed a gay-marraige ban (and all apparently by a wider margin than the Presidential vote, which implies some Kerry supporters voted in favor of a ban). On one hand, a democracy involves people being allowed to vote for candidates or laws that I disagree with (or have them voted out next time around). But I'm going to be following this topic closely.

Somehow, the pronounciation of that phase is amusing ;-)

I considered and rejected "Bushies", in case you're wondering.

I agree with you on the attack on gay marriage. I can't say I'm surprised, but I'm very disappointed. There seem to be a lot of people who equate "I would never do X" with "you should never be allowed to do X". I think that's the fundamental problem here, and I don't know how we fix it.

(I'd link to the old post, but I'm accessing thru my phone on my lunch break)

There

are people just as confounded by the idea of enviro-activists believing they have any 'right' to interfere with anything a landowner may wish to do with his or her own property...

posted via wmlj

There seem to be a lot of people who equate "I would never do X" with "you should never be allowed to do X". I think that's the fundamental problem here, and I don't know how we fix it.

In the general case, we probably can't. In the specific, it's largely a matter of patient resistance and constant gentle pressure. The generational divide on this particular issue is stark, and it's actually quite worthwhile to keep pushing at that wedge. If the students who favor gay rights today can be persuaded to keep that viewpoint as they grow older, the good guys eventually win...

Are you a register democrat? Because I'm a register republican, and I got stuff to urge me to get out and vote, but for rebublicans... you know, before the evil democrats force me to have an abortion and marry gay people.

I'm a registered Libertarian, but I got a ton of mail from the Republicans (a lot assuming I was a member of their party) and some from the Democrats. Almost all of the phone calls came from the Democrats.

I'm a registered independent. I got some independent mail and some Democratic mail. I also got calls from the Governator, but they were for CA propositions, not for Bush.

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obligatory election post

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gay marriage

The South

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<b>shrug</b> well, remember the bacon.

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