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In and around my work today, while I've been making meals and doing laundry, I've been listening to political podcasts. I've been inundated with news of the campaigners and all their niggly details. I've heard all about the states extending hours for voting booths and how they are already lined up in 4-8 hour queues. This leads me to two questions:
1. Why do we still queue up to vote?
As an Oregon resident, I read all my ballot pamphlets, researched, discussed and vetted my choices weeks ago. I received my ballot in the mail 2 weeks ago. I walked to the ballot box over a week ago and didn't have to wait for a single person ahead of me. Had I been housebound, I could have mailed it.
I remember when I was living in RI, we still had to go to a voting station (the location of which tended to change from time to time), stand in hours of lines, then twiddle the little knobs and pull the jackpot handle ("Pay no attention to the voter behind the curtain!") I also remember there were times that I couldn't vote. I wanted to vote. I had prepared to vote. But the places didn't open until after I'd started Job#1, they closed before I finished Job #2 and they were at least 35 minutes of driving away from either job location. I had 30 minutes of lunch and I had only 1 hour between reporting for the next job. Even if I had driven back to the voting station, I'd have never made it through the line. I know this because I tried. More than once.
Seriously. Is there a reason we still queue up to vote? It just seems that vote by mail is so much more efficient. There is never any confusion over voter locations, no people harassing me in the line to vote for their candidate. Clearly, I've already made my decision. Their hype isn't going to sway me at the 11th hour. If anyone knows, I'd love an explanation.
2. I'm swamped by all the details of this election. Of how confident all the candidates are that they can solve our energy crisis, our economical crisis, our foreign war crisis, our confidence in our government crisis... does anyone still cover what our current administration is doing? I've not heard a peep about what our President, our House and our Senate are doing about any of this save the mortgage bailout. And that was a while ago. What have they done since then? This, also, is an earnest question. I really haven't found much coverage of this. Perhaps I'm reading the wrong blogs and feeds.
1. Why do we still queue up to vote?
As an Oregon resident, I read all my ballot pamphlets, researched, discussed and vetted my choices weeks ago. I received my ballot in the mail 2 weeks ago. I walked to the ballot box over a week ago and didn't have to wait for a single person ahead of me. Had I been housebound, I could have mailed it.
I remember when I was living in RI, we still had to go to a voting station (the location of which tended to change from time to time), stand in hours of lines, then twiddle the little knobs and pull the jackpot handle ("Pay no attention to the voter behind the curtain!") I also remember there were times that I couldn't vote. I wanted to vote. I had prepared to vote. But the places didn't open until after I'd started Job#1, they closed before I finished Job #2 and they were at least 35 minutes of driving away from either job location. I had 30 minutes of lunch and I had only 1 hour between reporting for the next job. Even if I had driven back to the voting station, I'd have never made it through the line. I know this because I tried. More than once.
Seriously. Is there a reason we still queue up to vote? It just seems that vote by mail is so much more efficient. There is never any confusion over voter locations, no people harassing me in the line to vote for their candidate. Clearly, I've already made my decision. Their hype isn't going to sway me at the 11th hour. If anyone knows, I'd love an explanation.
2. I'm swamped by all the details of this election. Of how confident all the candidates are that they can solve our energy crisis, our economical crisis, our foreign war crisis, our confidence in our government crisis... does anyone still cover what our current administration is doing? I've not heard a peep about what our President, our House and our Senate are doing about any of this save the mortgage bailout. And that was a while ago. What have they done since then? This, also, is an earnest question. I really haven't found much coverage of this. Perhaps I'm reading the wrong blogs and feeds.
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From:
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I know, the numbers say the Democrats hold a majority. But for most of the last two years, one Senator was in a coma, then Ted Kennedy was out with brain cancer. Joe Lieberman caucused with the Democrats but voted with the Republicans the majority of the time. Lastly, the Republicans used a record number of filibusters to keep any legislation they didn't like from moving forward, and anything that did get through was vetoed.
WIth so little time left in this congress, many bills are being held up in committee in hopes that a filibuster-proof majority will be elected. Considering the fact that half the Senate and all of the House are up for re-election, I'd say that Congress is preoccupied with campaigning.
That said, I would draw your attention to a very underreported story about the negotiations of a new Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq. This is the agreement by which we currently legally have forces in Iraq since the UN mandate ran out. If we cannot renegotiate a deal, we will be in the country in violation of international law. Current talks are due to resume after the election and one hopes the new president will have a role.
From:
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From:
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2. The current administration isn't doing much of anything.
From:
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