So, I’m sure a proportion of you are rather glad I’m not entitled to vote.
I have a few issues which are non-negotiable: social justice for women, LGBTQ folk, and ethnic or religious minorities, access to education, healthcare and the law.
I have a few issues which are preferences: deregulation of small businesses, encouragement of small scale entrepreneurship, lower and more progressive taxation, diminished military spending, higher welfare support for a smaller number of recipients, secularism, easier economic immigration.
These, as you can tell, split across US (and UK) party lines. But my red lines tend to fall with the democrats on the US spectrum (it is a little more tricky here where even the most conservative politician supports universal healthcare). So that’s where I’d vote. Though from my remote and news-media filtered perspective, I can’t say Obama’s first term has fired me up.
People seem more passionate about getting rid of him than they are about re-electing him (more comments like “yeah, the first term wasn’t great, but he’s better than the other guy.”). On the other hand there’s always a bump for the incumbent, the devil you know. It’ll be interesting 24 hours, I think.
If you feel like confessing your vote and why, that would be interesting. Regardless, if you are entitled to vote, go to it!
I will take my daughter with me to the polls in 30 minutes.
I agree with many of your non-negotiable and preferences.
I won’t tell you who I will vote for — maybe I will flip a coin.
But I can say is that often, preferences can affect non-negotiables.
Go to it! Yes, preferences can affect non-negotiables, particularly where non-negotiables are mostly a matter of rhetoric. Often the campaign is full of bluster and black-and-white painting, but actually governing draws you into a grey area. The two potential presidents would govern more similarly that different, I’d suggest. Anyhoo, have fun.
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Not addressed to Sabio, but these election festivities just reminded me of a Nanci Griffith song:
Republican is the way you vote
You’ve got a sticker on your bumper that’s how I know
…
Hey, it’s Saturday night so go on down the road
I’ll cancel you out when I go to the polls
Given that I endorsed Obama on my blog, nobody will be surprised at how I voted.
Overall, I think he has been a reasonably good president. I disagreed with some of his decision, but that was to be expected. He came into office in very difficult circumstances, made worse by the almost-treasonous decision of the Republicans that working to ensure that Obama was a failure was more important than serving the interests of the nation.