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ELECTION NOV 2006 (California) comments

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  • I'm going to need a while to get over my decision to vote Democrat in every election with a Republican running. It was necessary to send a message to the Republicans about Iraq and allowing the Oil Companies raping the Public with their profit taking. Still, It was like choosing to be shot to death instead of burned at the stake. I'm not thrilled but I was out of BBQ sauce. Normally I vote Libertarian.

    I"m very disappointed to see that big-mouthed bigot Arnold "The Governator" Schwartznegger re-elected, and by such a large vote. His comments about nurses lost me and his other bigoted comments, such as "girly-men" have driven me further away. I fear he will be a US Senator next.

    A lot of bad ideas passed, but a few have really disappointed me:

    83 - Sex Offenders - passed. It may well be a badly written proposition that will backfire. It has in other states. However, I voted for it because I figured it deserved a chance. A major arguement, against, was that it could keep convicted violators monitored for the rest of their life. There is no evidence that child molesters will ever "get well". It may well be in the brain like anybody else's sexuality. If it works, fine. If not we can rescind it or modify it.

    86 - Tax on Cigarettes - failed - The cigarette companies spent a fortune. As long as smokers (as a group) continue their discourtious, public, drug abuse where it impinges on my life, I will vote for any proposition that may reduce the number of smokers or limits their public use of tobacco. They clearly have learned nothing in the past by the laws passed to keep them away from the rest of us. As long as I am expected to pay for their medical care, when their addiction destroys their body, I will vote for any proposition that forces them to pay in advance for that care. I stll have to deal with the smell of tobacco on their clothes. I'm sorry for those of you who smoke, but I have strong feelings on this issue. If smokers, as a group, were more considerate, I would not feel this way. At work I am often forced to be around smoking patients, and I resent it, though I have strongly supported the need for psychiatric and detoxing patients to be able to smoke while in hospital. No matter how badly this one was implemented, it had to make life better for non-smokers. My father was "murdered" by the tobacco companies, but he chose to continue use when he knew it might kill him. He continued to use while on oxygen for emphysema and couldn't breathe. Lord knows what damage he did to the lungs of my mother and brothers and me. No, if smokers want to smoke, let them pay for the privledge, not me.

    87 - Alternative Energy Tax - failed - People didn't want to pay more for their gasoline, despite the fact that new energy sources are desperately needed in this polluted state. Well, you will pay for it in medical costs later in your lives and it will cost you far more than the increased gas costs. Instead, oil companies should have been forced to stop profiteering. Global warming will devestate the world in this century. Nothing was more important than this issue in yesterday's election.

    90 - Ban govt seizing of private property for private projects - I can't believe this one failed. - Perhaps it's because homeowners are now so outnumbered by renters. I have no home but I find this "right" of government to be unacceptable. People have a right to their homes and land. This is the kind of government we had a "revolution" about in the Colonies in the 18th century.

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    I'm disturbed by the passage of so many "gay-marriage" bans but encouraged by the narrowing margins by which such pass. Freedom has to be for everyone and I have no use for people who force their religous fantasies down our throats as laws. Separation of Church and State.... If there are benefits to couples because of marriage....then everyone must have the right. If they don't want that there MUST be an equivalent legal status for non-married people. Anything else is discriminatory and, in my view, not indicated by the intent of the US Constitution. Let's not return to the oppressions of the 1950's

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    I doubt the Republicans will learn the correct lesson by the results of this election. They learned nothing by Ford's pardon of Nixon. I doubt the Democrats will either. Still, change was needed. It remains to be seen if the change will be for the better. We do have a female Speaker of the House of Representatives. She will be the second person in line for succession to the Presidency of the United States if the President should be unable to continue due to incapacity or death. A woman is now two beating hearts from the Presidency.
    "A live lived in fear is a life half-lived." - Native American proverb. "Inside every man is a woman who was drowned in testosterone before birth". - Wendy Jeanette Larsen "It is better to be hated for what you are than loved for what you're not." - Andre Gide (French writer)
      November 8, 2006 11:52 AM GMT
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  • Hi Wendy, I found a lot of what you had to say here fascinating. as a history and politics graduate. Though I am aware of how the American system works I wasn't aware that many of the issues you mention were on the agenda. It is still a fascinating dichotomy of why a person votes the way they do. From what you say I wouldn't doubt you are a libertarian, something that has far-right connotations here in England. I certainly don't agree with some of what you said, though I certainly agree with how you voted on this occassion. Still a fascinating insight, thankyou. Love p x
    Porscha
      December 22, 2006 9:58 PM GMT
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  • Porscha,
    I'm glad you found it interesting. I'm sure the average voter went to the polls like a cow to the slaughter. There was a lot of money attempting to frighten voters into voting against their own best interests.
    "A live lived in fear is a life half-lived." - Native American proverb. "Inside every man is a woman who was drowned in testosterone before birth". - Wendy Jeanette Larsen "It is better to be hated for what you are than loved for what you're not." - Andre Gide (French writer)
      December 23, 2006 5:00 AM GMT
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  • Hi Wendy, it is interesting how national elections in a democracy seem to be decided on a very small percentage of the electorate. I say electorate here, but of course the percentage is even smaller when you take into account the 40% in both our respective countries who do not bother to vote at all, and I do have to count myself among them. I voted for Blair in 97 something I am deeply ashamed of, and I will never make a similar mistake again. The cause of this is that even in a so-called sophisticated democracy people still vote according to party allegiance even if it is against their interests to do so. I come from a working class family where to vote tory or even say a good word about them is unthinkable. Not that I have a good word to say about them. Even though the current New Labour has but the vaguest similarity to the socialist Labour Party, the Welfare State and National Health Service I imbibed with my mother's milk. Still the untouchable sacred cows of British political life that working class people hold close to their hearts. The Conservative Party here is fundamentally a party of the affluent south-east of England, which is where I live; and it is interesting that they hold no Parliamentary seat in any major northern conurbation, not Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle etc. They have no seats at all in Scotland, or in Wales. All traditional socialist labour areas. Yet we don't have a socialist Labour Party, indeed quite the opposite. So why at present should party allegiance be so strong? Well it isn't but I don't want to into that here. It's just interesting to chat about it. At the last U.S elections you had many issues but one of course, that couldn't be ignored. The Iraq war generates much media talk here but seems to generate little public interest or anger. Yes most people seem to be opposed to it but it certainly wouldn't be a deciding factor in how they voted. But then we haven't lost 3000 young men and women.
    Porscha
      December 23, 2006 6:49 PM GMT
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