Voting in mid-term elections: a right and responsibility

The Amsterdam canal house residence of John Adams, former US president, ambassador and co-author of the Declaration of Independence.

 

Have you voted yet? If not, why?  

It's true the American mid-term election has been the nastiest in recent memory, fueled largely by hateful, hysterical rhetoric from a couple of windbag talk show hosts and a "news" channel that gives journalism a bad name.  Citizens United also has a lot to answer for, as the court ruling enabled vast amounts of nefarious - and often corporate - money to be funneled into campaigns, under the cloak of secrecy.

In the lead-up to this election, the supposedly independent US Chamber of Commerce was revealed actively to be funding right-wing GOP candidates. Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox "News," the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post donated at least $2 million to the Republican party, a clear bias and conflict of interest.

Meanwhile, the Republicans continued their curious lurch to the radical right, propping up unqualified "Tea Party" candidates with checkered histories and challenged intellects. (I'm looking at you, Christine "I am not a Witch" O'Donnell, Sharron Angle, Rand Paul, Joe Miller and Tom Tancredo, among others).

Many of their campaigns have been run in a furtive manner, trying to stem information about their pasts and soften their most extreme views. Angle and Miller both have attempted to block the media from investigating their past actions. Alaska reporters had to go to court to get Joe Miller's previous employment records released. The delusional Angle - who is so extreme, even Republican leaders in Nevada have said they support Democrat veteran Senator Harry Reid for re-election -  arrogantly said she won't talk to the press "until she's elected." Early in her campaign (before her GOP handlers tried to silence her) Angle said she's in favour of abolishing the Department of Education and Social Security, among other alarming ideas involving armed insurgency against the government.

In California, Meg Whitman has spent more than $160 million of her corporate wealth trying to buy the governor's race. She also wants the woman who worked as her maid for nine years deported.  And Carly Fiorina, who was fired after running Hewlett-Packard into the ground and later dropped as a corporate spokeswoman for John McCain - after making too many racist gaffes - has run a heavily-negative campaign for Senate. (You won't be surprised to know as a California voter living abroad, I voted absentee for Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer).

The divisive tone in the elections turned to violence in Kentucky, when a Rand Paul supporter went beyond name-calling and stomped on a woman's head (he has been arrested for assault) and later demanded she apologise to him!

Jon Stewart's and Stephen Colbert's Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear Saturday in Washington, D.C. encouraged cooler heads to prevail amidst the media onslaught and election mania. Reassuringly, about 250,000 peaceful people turned out to show that the majority of American citizens remain civil and (mostly) sane.

Four questions for Republicans

If you're a Republican, I'd like to know what's happened to your party? Why has it morphed beyond civil discourse and conservative ideas to the belligerent Party of No??!! Don't tell me you haven't noticed.

And here are excellent questions for you, from Jed Lewison at Daily Kos:

1. What was the average monthly private sector job growth in 2008, the final year of the Bush presidency, and what has it been so far in 2010?
2. What was the Federal deficit for the last fiscal year of the Bush presidency, and what was it for the first full fiscal year of the Obama presidency?
3. What was the stock market at on the last day of the Bush presidency? What is it at today?
4. Which party's candidate for speaker campaigned this past weekend with a Nazi reenactor who dressed up in a SS uniform?

Answers (in case you didn't know):

1. In 2008, we lost an average of 317,250 private sector jobs per month. In 2010, we have gained an average of 95,888 private sector jobs per month. (Source) That's a difference of nearly five million jobs between Bush's last year in office and President Obama's second year.
2. In FY2009, which began on September 1, 2008 and represents the Bush Administration's final budget, the budget deficit was $1.416 trillion. In FY2010, the first budget of the Obama Administration, the budget deficit was $1.291 trillion, a decline of $125 billion. (Source) Yes, that means President Obama has cut the deficit -- there's a long way to go, but we're in better shape now than we were under Bush and the GOP.
3. On Bush's final day in office, the Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 closed at 7,949, 1,440, and 805, respectively. Today, as of 10:15AM Pacific, they are at 11,108, 2,512, and 1,183. That means since President Obama took office, the Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 have increased 40%, 74%, and 47%, respectively.
4. The Republican Party, whose candidate for speaker, John Boehner, campaigned with Nazi re-enactor Rich Iott. If you need an explanation why this is offensive, you are a lost cause.

"The moral of the story is this: if you vote Republican, I hope you enjoy Election Day -- because you're not going to like what comes next."

On your bike: please vote! It's important. And those who don't participate in democracy have no right to complain about it.

Comments

[Chris]

Oh, wow. This post is so excellent it's beyond excellent. Perfect? Maybe that's it. I wish I'd been more up on my blog reading. I would have linked this on my blog a hundred times or so.

[christina]

i got out and voted. how could i not! i was sick but i was there!
xo

[Colette]

I thought of you when I saw that Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer were back in! The saddest part of this election is that a lot of angry people voted out of anger and nothing else -- they are their own worst enemy, in my opinion.

xoxo

[jeanie]

I thought of you on election day and was so mad I was sick and off computer because I knew you'd have an astounding post -- which of course you do. Every voter should read this. Three cheers.

I will say I resorted to a few write ins of my own, because I simply couldn't vote for either candidate. Isn't that pathetic? And the race I wanted to vote in most was off by a boundary of about five miles. He could have used my help. Writing my post-election blog post -- well, I just had to.

On my first day back to work from bronchitis, bad bronchitis, I worked in the newsroom til midnight, tweeting election results and color. It was fascinating. And depressing.

[Carol]

Hi Tara, My cousin, Lee, told me about your blog. I love your post about this election. You hit every point that has been driving many of us crazy! To think that Sharon Angle & her supporters thought she could become a United States Senator without answering any questions from the press- and she almost got away with it - that says something about what's happening here. There seems to be a deep misunderstanding by an alarming number of citizens about how our Democracy works & the importance of the press. The media culture is a large part of the problem as Fox simply serves as a propaganda tool for the far Right. Stewart's rally really couldn't restore sanity as he decided to equate Fox with MSNBC (a channel that can back its' opinions with actual facts) and throws vaguely angry Tea Partiers (where were they when the Patriot Act was passed?) with Iraq war protesters. Thanks for the forum! I love all your photos. The antiques are fabulous. I could get lost in them. I hope to meet you in Paris next year when Lee is there! Carol

[Marilyn]

Thank you, Tara! I believe I will put this on Facebook also. You never disappoint when you share your beliefs. So glad you voted. My votes are in too.

[dianne]

Hi Tara~ from some-ome who lives on the other side of the globe
I found this post very informative & yes I agree that every one should vote - it is not only their duty but a privilege.

[Mary H.]

I have told people I know who don't vote that in other regions of the world people have died trying to exercise their right to vote. If you don't vote, I don't want to hear you complain about the outcomes of the elections. Be it yeah, nay or whatever, just vote!

[Di]

Good advice. I put it up on facebook :-)

[Stefanie]

Oh I know that corner! Prinzengratz no? I used to live just down the street and there was a lovely designer outlet there.

Smile ...

Gosh that was a lifetime ago.

Stefanie

[Sheris White]

I'm happy to hear you are a California voter. We voted for Boxer and Brown and for prop 19! The war against drugs certainly hasn't worked. Living so close to the border we're very aware of the violence in Mexico. Last week 15 people were gunned down at a drug rehab clinic in Tijuana. One of the victims was an uncle of a student my daughter teaches.