{"id":9758,"date":"2006-11-06T19:36:44","date_gmt":"2006-11-07T02:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2006\/11\/06\/vote-dammit-2.html"},"modified":"2006-11-06T19:36:44","modified_gmt":"2006-11-07T02:36:44","slug":"vote_dammit_2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/11\/06\/vote_dammit_2.html","title":{"rendered":"VOTE, DAMMIT!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Because I&#8217;d rather see a 100% turn-out and be on the losing side than see a 20% turn-out and be on the winning side.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, I&#8217;d rather see a 20% turn-out and be on the winning side than see a 30% turn-out and be on the losing side. I&#8217;m principled, but not crazy.<\/p>\n<p>No, really &#8212; if the matters before the electorate in this mid-term election &#8212; the war, civil liberties, values traditional and otherwise, the size of government, the environment, homeland security &#8212; aren&#8217;t enough to get you off your fat ass and into a polling booth on your way to\/from work tomorrow (even if it&#8217;s just to vote on a ballot proposition or the local assistant deputy coroner or even just <em>against<\/em> someone) then you might as well turn in your citizenship card and move someplace where they<br \/>\ndon&#8217;t bother to let folks vote.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, it&#8217;s that important, no matter what party (or blend thereof) you belong to.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vote<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>(And if you really want some advice, I&#8217;m a big believer in the conservative value of government inertia &#8212; the government is best that governs least. Meaning neither party has the majority in the legislature and the executive. Sure, I have my pet issues &#8212; feel free to peruse this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/10\/11\/ballot_propositions_for_c.html\" target=\"_blank\">voting guide for Colorado<\/a> &#8212; but regardless, I think we&#8217;ve had enough years of one-party rule, don&#8217;t you?)<\/p>\n<p>If you remain utterly undecided on congressional races, might I point you to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.congress.org\/congressorg\/voting\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">voting attendance records<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.congress.org\/congressorg\/dbq\/issuesdbq\/votesearch.dbq\" target=\"_blank\">votes cast by subject<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.congress.org\/congressorg\/power_rankings\/index.tt\" target=\"_blank\">power ranking<\/a>. And if you&#8217;re outraged about something congresscritter X did based on an ad you saw, you probably owe<br \/>\nit to yourself to check out <a href=\"http:\/\/www.factcheck.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">FactCheck<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But just vote, dammit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Because I&#8217;d rather see a 100% turn-out and be on the losing side than see a 20% turn-out and be on the winning side. Of course, I&#8217;d rather see a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-elections-2006"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":46220,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/11\/03\/so-the-election-is-tomorrow.html","url_meta":{"origin":9758,"position":0},"title":"So the election is tomorrow","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 3-Nov-14 10:25pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't watch or obsess about the polls. I always assume My Side is on the verge of losing. If the polls say bad things, I don't want to hear it because that's if I don't acknowledge it, it wont be true. If the polls say good things, I don't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/b7c45af5ed2d2a4b_16958936067135169_ETesZwOx_f%5B1%5D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11766,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/02\/06\/the_morning_after_the_thr.html","url_meta":{"origin":9758,"position":1},"title":"The morning after the throng before","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 6-Feb-08 6:51am","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm not sure I can handle being on the winning side in an election (as rare an event as that seems to be), but Obama gathered two-thirds of the...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Elections 2008&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2008","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2008"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/voting-butterfly.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":46019,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/22\/okay-my-vote-is-mailed-can-i-turn-off-the-mailings-now.html","url_meta":{"origin":9758,"position":2},"title":"Okay, my vote is mailed. Can I turn off the mailings now?","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 22-Oct-14 7:29pm","format":false,"excerpt":"And the phone calls. And the flyers. And the TV ads. And ...(This is one of the areas where the Dems are as bad as the GOP. While my concerns over the Republicans winning are far higher, than over th Dems winning, though neither would be a panacea, the rhetorical\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Paul%2BCombes%2B2014-10%2Belections%2Bautumn.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Paul%2BCombes%2B2014-10%2Belections%2Bautumn.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Paul%2BCombes%2B2014-10%2Belections%2Bautumn.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6234,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/10\/05\/get_out_the_vot.html","url_meta":{"origin":9758,"position":3},"title":"Get out the vote","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 5-Oct-04 8:55am","format":false,"excerpt":"Joshua Claybourn regrets news reports that voter registration is way up for this election. But the reality is that most citizens aren't informed, and quite frankly I'm okay with them...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics &amp; Law&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics &amp; Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6260,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/09\/30\/what_i_hope_for.html","url_meta":{"origin":9758,"position":4},"title":"What I hope for November 8th","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 30-Sep-04 1:38pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I hope for an election that was not so close that we spend the next four years with half the country grumbling, \"We was robbed.\" I hope for an election...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics &amp; Law&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics &amp; Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12745,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/10\/06\/forced_discovery.html","url_meta":{"origin":9758,"position":5},"title":"Forced discovery","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 6-Oct-08 4:51pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The current McCain\/Palin self-proclaimed slime-o-rama against Obama may turn out to be a huge tactical error. Not because the negative ads will turn off the populace against McCain (they...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Elections 2008&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2008","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2008"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9758\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}