I am in a district where there is no particular issues at the state or local level to drive me and other voters to the polls. I will however join my wife, and drag my child, to the poll tonight after work. And in voting I will fulfill my obligation.
However, I wish there was more at stake in this election as I greatly desire to join the many conservatives that will take a stand in New York, New Jersey, and Virginia. I especially wish I had the opportunity to cast a vote for the Conservative party candidate, Doug Hoffman, in New York’s 23rd House district. I wish I has a chance to join many of my fellow Americans in voting conscience and not party.
It is easy to walk into the polling both and pull the party lever, but that is wrong and needs to stop. We need to wake up and support a candidate and not a party. Many of us in the past have donated to one of the two primary political parties, often wasting our money. Why do we not donate to a candidate’s campaign instead of a party. As a conservative, I oppose excessive taxing and top down allocation of my “government support.” Given that, why would I donate to the national committee just to have career party staffers decide who will receive my funds.
I have received multiple calls in the past six months from the RNC and the NRCC requesting that I turn over a portion of my family’s hard-earned money for their use in campaigning. I resisted in every case. I can just imagine that if I had not resisted, a portion of my donation would have gone to a liberal candidate such as Republican Dede Scozzafava. This is confirmed in a blog post by Michelle Malkin. Michelle reports that over $1 million was spent by the RNC and the NRCC on this “RINO’s” campaign.
Okay enough ramblings; the point is this. Stop voting party and vote candidate. Likewise, stop contributing to party and contribute to candidate.
I’m disillusioned by the fact that politics is a game and it’s just about your side WINNING (even if that means you stand for nothing except that you want to beat the other team), when it should be about having some principles and trying to act on them in the best interests of the public.
But ditto this: “As a conservative, I oppose excessive taxing and top down allocation of my “government support.” Given that, why would I donate to the national committee just to have career party staffers decide who will receive my funds.”
And I like your final advice. I will add a favorite quote (Ghandi): Be the change you wish to see in the world.
I too would hear of “And it was a win for the Republicans today”, i.e. This is something that begins to infiltrate reason. While in discussion of the book by C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, I understood that today’s world is demeaning the idea of the democratic system.
“You remember how one of the Greek Dictators (they called them ‘tyrants’ then) sent an envoy to another Dictator to ask his advice about the principles of government. The second Dictator led the envoy to a field of grain, and then snicked off with his cane the top of every stalk that rose an inch or so above the general level. The moral was plain. Allow no preeminence among your subjects. Let no man live who is wiser or better or more famous or even handsomer than the mass. Cut them all down to a level: all slaves, all ciphers, all nobodies. All equals. Thus Tyrants could practise, in a sense, ‘democracy.’ But now ‘democracy’ can do the same work without any tyranny other than her own. No one need now go through the field with a cane. The little stalks will now of themselves bite the tops off the big ones.” — P.165
When people just pull the party lever they are not striving to understand more about the issues, they are not striving to be better at their jobs, or striving to excel in many areas at all. This “not striving” common thread in society, along with the effort to have every person come across as the same person without acknowledging the wonderful differences are the slow degradation of the democratic system. The purpose of more than one party is to assist in grounding the others and to be sure we are constantly staying abreast the topics at hand. When we vote by party alone we are not helping in the continual challenge and growth of ourselves and the society.
I second the comments regarding party versus candidate.