Obama v. Clinton

[jackofallgeeks]

Quick post, little thought, because my mind can't generate the charge needed
to draw much coherent reasoning. Democrats seem to be tearing themselves
apart on the Obama/Clinton bit. Both scare me for different reasons. About
a 3rd of either candidate's supporters say they won't vote fior the rival if
said rival gets the nomination. That seems at least a bit absurd. Most of
these say they would not-vote (rather than vote for McCain). I'm not sure
what I think of that. Part of me thinks it'd be better if fewer people
voted, so long as those who did vote were well-educated about the candidates
and not just voting on party lines and/or emotion. Still, a lot of me
thinks not-voting is dumb. Not sure what one should do if neither candidate
earns one's support.

Comments

[metis2be.livejournal.com]

The way that I see it is clinton and obama have almost identical positions. If obama doesn't get the nomination then at least clinton will be close enough, because I don't want someone in office who believes the war can go on indefinitely and has admitted to not understanding the economy. It'd be silly of me to vote for mcain out of spite just because I believe that clinton is evil and if she gets the nomination it will be fully unjust (such as getting florida votes counted).

And not voting for a your party is voting for the other party, since you aren't canceling out someone's vote.

[quix.livejournal.com]

In my mind, "not voting" is the same as say voting for Ralph Nader. One way or another, you're giving allowing the Republican party to take the lead by factioning off votes for the Democratic party. Don't get me wrong, I completely support the right for the Green Party and Ralph Nader to get their support, but let's be realistic and realize that it's the end result that truly matters, and you have to decide what's more important to you: Voting for what you believe, or that anyone would be better then another Republican (on a side note: McCain was the scariest possible of all the possible candidates for the Republican party for me. He thinks like Bush, but he's the smarts upstairs to back it up) in the presidential office.

[naughtjennifer.livejournal.com]

Well, let's see.

First off, given the choice, I'd choose Clinton over Obama. Obama has little to no record, and what he does have, I find quite disturbing. He has one amazing thing in his favor. He is an amazing orator. He can quote William Faulkner, Langston Hughes, and even pull of Jay-Z's moves. But he's in no way good at actually running a country. His platform, as best as I can tell, is "I hope things will be better with me in office." If I were generous, I'd say he's simply a demagogue who cna get popular support. As I'm not, I cannot help but observe that, historically, demagogues are usually after one thing: power. And that's a scary thought.

Clinton's not much better, but we know where she stands. She has principles(not good ones, but she has something), she has experience, and she has some sort of a platform.

As far as the subject of voting vs. notvoting, we recently had the discussion here. I am of the opinion that, if you're waiting until the election year to get active, you've already wasted your vote. Yeah, technically you can contribute to the tipping factor that wins your district for one side rather than the other. Usually, though, it can be argued that any vote is simply a gesture based on your principles.

If you want your opinion to count, campaign. You should start your political activity on year 1 of the presidency, not year 8. If you favor one party, learn about the issues, bring them to light. Find out who's doing what where, find someone you can support. Let other people know about it, so they can share their support. If you're not a fan of either party, you have all the more reason to be active. The Whigs weren't ousted as a major American political party because enough people decided on election day, "Meh. Neither of the major parties have an appealing candidate this year. I'll vote independent." There was campaigning, the spread of information, and people speaking out on issues that the Whigs had failed to address.

In other words, if you actually care about your opinion mattering, go out and do something. If your district, or even your state, is generally a blue state and you're red, of vice-versa, do something. Otherwise, it doesn't matter if you're voting for Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green, Prince William, or Mickey Mouse.

[otakulk.livejournal.com]

I am disappointed that such a post didn't generate more posts where people argued over the candidates. I guess our generation really is too apathetic :D Where are the trolls?