Today, I voted early for the first time. It was quick ... it was painless. There are about 10 early voting places in the Valley, including one near our library, which is where I voted. There were about a half dozen people there voting at the same time and after talking to the poll workers there, they apparently have a pretty steady flow and will all month. Laura at Sarchasm voted early too and shares some of her experiences here. For my AZ blog friends, here's a list of the locations: Early Voting Locations
I highly recommend for anyone that can, vote early. If you don't know who you are voting for by now, then you don't belong in a voting booth, you belong in a straitjacket. Hell, even a Goldwater and a Buckley have figured it out already and it ain't who you think:
Goldwater:
Being Barry Goldwater's granddaughter and living in Arizona, one would assume that I would be voting for our state's senator, John McCain. I am still struck by certain 'dyed in the wool' Republicans who are on the fence this election, as it seems like a no-brainer to me.
Myself, along with my siblings and a few cousins, will not be supporting the Republican presidential candidates this year. We believe strongly in what our grandfather stood for: honesty, integrity, and personal freedom, free from political maneuvering and fear tactics... Our generation of Goldwaters expects government to provide for constitutional protections. We reject the constant intrusion into our personal lives, along with other crucial policy issues of the McCain/Palin ticket.
My grandfather (Paka) would never suggest denying a woman's right to choose. My grandmother co-founded Planned Parenthood in Arizona in the 1930's, a cause my grandfather supported. I'm not sure about how he would feel about marriage rights based on same-sex orientation. I think he would feel that love and respect for ones privacy is what matters most and not the intolerance and poor judgment displayed by McCain over the years. Paka respected our civil liberties and passed on the message that that we should conduct our lives standing up for the basic freedoms we hold so dear.
For a while, there were several candidates who aligned themselves with the Goldwater version of Conservative thought. My grandfather had undying respect for the U.S. Constitution, and an understanding of its true meanings.
... the Republican brand has been tarnished in a shameless effort to gain votes and appeal to the lowest emotion, fear. Nothing about McCain, except for maybe a uniform, compares to the same ideology of what Goldwater stood for as a politician. The McCain/Palin plan is to appear diverse and inclusive, using women and minorities to push an agenda that makes us all financially vulnerable, fearful, and less safe.
When you see the candidate's in political ads, you can't help but be reminded of the 1964 presidential campaign of Johnson/Goldwater, the 'origin of spin', that twists the truth and obscures what really matters. Nothing about the Republican ticket offers the hope America needs to regain it's standing in the world, that's why we're going to support Barack Obama. I think that Obama has shown his ability and integrity.
After the last eight years, there's a lot of clean up do. Roll up your sleeves, Senators Obama and Biden, and we Goldwaters will roll ours up with you.
Buckley:
The National Review accepted the resignation of columnist Christopher Buckley last week, shortly after the humorist and editor -- son of the conservative biweekly's late founder, William F. Buckley Jr. -- endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, Mr. Buckley said Tuesday...
"I think they wanted to put as much daylight between Christopher Buckley and themselves as they could," Mr. Buckley said Tuesday, after publishing news of his resignation on The Daily Beast. "It's an odd situation, when the founder's son has suddenly become the turd in the punch bowl."
Mr. Buckley says his father, who endorsed a few Democrats in his time -- including Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman when he ran against Republican incumbent Lowell Weicker in 1988 -- was "quite tolerant of the surprising point of view" and never wanted his magazine's writers to be in intellectual lockstep.
"We seem to be living in a time of arteriosclerotic orthodoxy," Mr. Buckley said. "A lot of the fun has gone out of it. I mean, gee whiz."
6 comments:
We're planning early voting this week.
In what seems like a sign of the New Republican Times, there have been reports of abuse hurled by trailer-park conservatives at early Democratic voters, as though this were somehow gaming the system (for what unfair advantage you'll have to shed your education and rational faculties to fathom).
All the more reason to do it, I'd say. If it rankles, I'm a bit pleased! ;-)
The heckling seems to mostly be in the South ... big shocker. Even in conservative AZ, the composition of the people at the polling place where I went seemed to be centrist or Dems. But, it was at a community center and was right across from a library. Not exactly places where Republicans find themselves very often.
I don't even get the whole heckling thing. What exactly are they complaining about? Voting early is still just voting. Too many instances of heckling along with the bogus attack of a McCain volunteer, that the McCain camp trumpeted before even knowing the truth, are making a lost McCain campaign look even worse.
I'm amused by how the McCain campaign seems to have derailed so spectacularly...
Speaking as a non-American, it's nice to see the potential for a promising course correction, one that should be good for the US and the rest of world... The next 10 days or so ought to be interesting.
I had a discussion with someone last weekend who thought that early voting meant they would declare a winner before election day. I had to explain to her that they cannot count to votes until all precincts in that state are closed. Then she got it. It's amusing to me how little people understand about the election process.
I'm going to have to keep a diary of election day flubs in my precinct and report back how dumb people are.
Oh, and this is hilarious - because IL doesn't register voters by party affiliation, and because I checked "either" on my election judge application, I've been assigned to be the republican judge in my precinct :D. Honestly, it doesn't matter what the party affiliation of the judges are to me, because I think, no matter what, everyone has an equal right to vote. I'm not going to challenge someone on partisan lines. Granted, SOME people might, but not me. It's just ironic...
" ... think, no matter what, everyone has an equal right to vote ..." - Exactly. It's about making sure the process is as good as possible. Good for you. I'm sure that the Republican one will be interesting.
Eh, there's only separate duties based on party affiliation in the primaries. Otherwise, it's just about equal representation to make sure voters don't feel intimidated or out of place if they're the odd duck of the precinct.
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