Voting 2008...

[Boss Out of Town]

"The whole world is watching . . ."

Literally, in this case, according to some comments I've read by Americans overseas.

[Dazed]

C'mon people, get out and vote! I'm 20 years old, my generation is already pretty boned, but it's not too late for us to save my future grandchildren


Seriously though, the fate of the world rests in our hands tomorrow. Don't screw this up.

[Boss Out of Town]

I'm off to the Kingston Friendship Center, polling open at 6:00 am tomorrow. The wife showers second and takes the dog out, so she'll be there a little later.

My only regret that we aren't running a national lottery to see who gets to kick Bush and Cheney's worthless asses out the back door of the White House next January. Be a good way to balance the budget.

[Slamlander]

I'm curious how this election looks to people outside the U S of A. There are Canadian, and overseas, readers here. Could some of you folks share views, ideally of those around you as well as your own?

The Swiss take voting very seriously. Enough to do it 9-10 times per year. Considering how the US has unjustifiably reamed out Swiss banks, for political reasons only, they are very concerned.

The thing is, though, it may not matter. The current administration is bequeathing the next one such a huge number of really horrendous messes that IMO, there is a very good chance that the next administration will be viewed as a one-term, "unsuccessful" one, regardless of what it actually does, and that a Lincoln or Roosevelt or Kennedy wouldn't do any better. Think of George H. W. Bush (Senior, that is, not his idiot son). It fell to that guy to tidy up the mess that Reagan made of the economy, the deficit, etc., and for taking it on, he was "rewarded" with a one-term presidency. I have immense respect for the man (despite having voted against him in both elections) for having the guts to do what he did, and look what it got him -- and he didn't have half the legacy of disaster to clean up that the next administration will.

Feel pity for whoever wins this election.

Amen brother.

See my Blog.

[Slamlander]

If I weren't applying to law schools in the United States I would seriously consider jumping ship if McCain wins. Hell, I'm seriously considering it anyway.

So are we all. New Zealand is looking good, our company could move there with relatively little in the way of consequences.

-_-'

Actually, Switzerland is pretty nice and you have a choice of four languages The main thing, it's the worlds eldest continuous Democracy and has stayed that way through the Napolianic occupation and other threats, since 1290AD (that's 718 years!).

"The whole world is watching . . ."

Literally, in this case, according to some comments I've read by Americans overseas.

Most definitely a bit of nail-biting going on here.

[Graybeard]

We voted early. My wife is scheduled for back surgery this afternoon in a hospital about 40 miles away (btw, I'll be out of the Errant Road RPG until the latter part of tomorrow because of that), which wouldn't have left us time to vote and get through all the pre-op paperwork. It was interesting that the ballot-munching machine at the polling place showed that our ballots were something like the 2200th it had registered -- out of a total voting population in town of something like 14,000. This was last week, and I gather that there have been a large number of early votes since ours -- and that doesn't count the absentee ballots. A really remarkable number of people are voting early this year. Sorry to disappoint them, but voting early doesn't mean we get rid of Bush any earlier.

For anyone who thinks their votes don't matter: in the last presidential election, the margin of victory for one of the local candidates (county council or some such) was EIGHT votes. It's not just Obama and McCain that are on these ballots.

[Boss Out of Town]

A really remarkable number of people are voting early this year. Sorry to disappoint them, but voting early doesn't mean we get rid of Bush any earlier.

Yeah, but a lot of them have heard how crowded it gets on polling day, so they are getting ahead of the game. Also, Obama's people and some independent groups have been pushing the early vote to defeat voter suppression efforts. A lot of the worst of them have been slapped down in court, thanks (finally!) to Democrats having the smarts to realize that they have to fight such things.

The most common voter suppression method in the US is what Rachel Maddow calls the "time tax." If you are in the lower half of the wage labor market, how much of your daily wages and how much job security are you willing to risk to spend four or eight hours at a polling station on a work day? Per one observer, the wealthy, white suburban districts in his area have five times as many voting machines as low income minority districts with the same number of voters. No lines or waiting for the better sort of people, no sir.

[Slamlander]

A really remarkable number of people are voting early this year. Sorry to disappoint them, but voting early doesn't mean we get rid of Bush any earlier.

Yeah, but a lot of them have heard how crowded it gets on polling day, so they are getting ahead of the game. Also, Obama's people and some independent groups have been pushing the early vote to defeat voter suppression efforts. A lot of the worst of them have been slapped down in court, thanks (finally!) to Democrats having the smarts to realize that they have to fight such things.

The most common voter suppression method in the US is what Rachel Maddow calls the "time tax." If you are in the lower half of the wage labor market, how much of your daily wages and how much job security are you willing to risk to spend four or eight hours at a polling station on a work day? Per one observer, the wealthy, white suburban districts in his area have five times as many voting machines as low income minority districts with the same number of voters. No lines or waiting for the better sort of people, no sir.

Yeah but, in California, par example, they have to give you paid time off to vote. It's in the labor law.

[Boss Out of Town]

The most common voter suppression method in the US is what Rachel Maddow calls the "time tax." If you are in the lower half of the wage labor market, how much of your daily wages and how much job security are you willing to risk to spend four or eight hours at a polling station on a work day? Per one observer, the wealthy, white suburban districts in his area have five times as many voting machines as low income minority districts with the same number of voters. No lines or waiting for the better sort of people, no sir.

Yeah but, in California, par example, they have to give you paid time off to vote. It's in the labor law.[/quote]
That makes so much sense I'm surprised anyone thought of it.

The whole Tuesday vote thing, I am told, dates back to the 19th Century. Most counties in America east of the frontier were designed so that county business--and voter travel--would be no more one day's carriage ride from the county seat. No one had Saturday's off, except people who followed the Sabbath on the 7th day of the week, and Sunday was the Sabbath for most of the population. The idea was that you could ride into town on Monday, vote on Tuesday, party on Tuesday night, then go back to the farm and get back to work on Wednesday.

At this point, almost any day other than Tuesday would be better. And a national voting holiday would be better yet.

[Immanio]

"The whole world is watching . . ."

Literally, in this case, according to some comments I've read by Americans overseas.

Believe me, Norwegian media has a lot of focus on the election, as does the population. We know how much the outcome of this election affects us as well. It's not just the foreign policy either, of course, the whole world has felt the economic nosedive.

In general, Norwegians tend towards the democrats, and the media very much so. Made me giggle a bit when Obama was "accused" of being a socialist.

Ah, well, even if McCain were to win, one could hope that Palin at least would be kept far away from anything important. The sad part is, she'll probably run for president in 4 years in any case :/