In a pickle?

[TX_RGR]

For those of you that are less than thrilled with the current administration for one reason or another, how do you plan to vote next time around? What do you see as viable options? Do you feel that selecting a republican to represent your district/country will allow the status quo to be upheld? Do you think voting Democrat might be a viable alternative? Will you instead "throw your vote away" on an independent to keep your conscience clear? Or is it time to smoke 'em if you got em? What are your thoughts on the best way to return our country to its previous state?

I realize that discourse in this corner of the forum can get quite heated. I would like to ask if it's possible for us to have a meaningful discussion to exchange ideas and opinions. I don't wish to offend anyone's sensibilities. If you are happy with things as they are, or see them as a necessary evil, I will do my best to avoid urinating in your breakfast cereal. If I have done so already, I can tell you honestly I meant no offense. I am interested in entering into a discussion on what others feel is the best way to proceed from here.

 

[Wildcard]

Under the Democrats, Clinton years, Gun rights took several major hits. I am not happy with the Bush Admin, since the only thing accomplished was the death of the AWB, when so much could have been done in regards to the 2A. I will vote Republican. For the moment, the Republican Party is the only party that is not trying to stomp on the 2A. That could change tomorrow, but until it does, I will not vote for a Democrat in any election, local, state or federal.

 

[mxwelch]

I vote conservative every time, I could give a rats a$# about party. It just happens that my clear choices here are Republican. I have voted Independant and would Democrat if they ever fielded a conservative. These Republicans count on people who don't want to "throw away" a vote to stay in power. Thy're taking us down the same road as the Dems, only slower. They need a swift kick in the butt to turn them back into "Regan Republicans."

 

[Redworm]

I won't vote for any politician who:

wants to take away guns.
wants to censor any form of media.
wants to continue the war on drugs.
wants to teaching anything in science class but science.
wants to make me pay for someone else's retirement or prescriptions.

and a whole slew of other things but at the moment that's what I came up with for now

I don't care about the party or whether they call themselves conservative, liberal, neocon, progressive, green, blue, red, or a ninja turtle. I don't want anyone like that in any office. If it's a local office I can get away with finding one that comes close because I know I won't find a perfect one...but in a national election I will never vote for someone who believes the government should have more power than the people. Made that mistake once in 2004.

 

[Republicrat]

I will vote Constitution or Libertarian party. I voted for Bush back in 2000, I didn't fall for it again in 04.

Remember- if you're voting for the lesser of two evils: you're still voting for evil.

 

[TX_RGR]

Hey Redworm--How bout "or wants to take away my constitutional rights," or "who spies on me?" or "who spends money without permission," or "who changes the rules to suit their needs?" Just adding to the list, but your post exemplifies what I see as a quandary of sorts. Both sides are coming closer together. And at least for now, there are problems on both sides of the aisle.

 

[DonR101395]

Both sides have problems and the libertarians are just to far gone into conspiracy theory and legalizing drugs for me. I'm a GWB supporter although I don't care for everything he's done or not done. I will support him because he's got the toughest job any president has had since LBJ, Kennedy and Nixon and I don't believe anyone could do better despite their ranting that they could. I vote republican always have always will until something better comes along and I don't forsee that in my lifetime. You can always tell a politition is lying by looking at his mouth.........his lips will be moving. It's just a matter of who you would rather recieve the lie from liberal or conservative.

 

[Omega blood]

The only vote thrown away is the one not made!

 

[Rimrock]

I find myself in some ways agreeing with DonR101395 It's getting harder to distinquish between the parties. Both have clearly forgotten the folks who vote for them.
I'm concerned about a gun grab but also concerned about
separation of church and state
the vanishing middle case
more gov't in our lives from the job to the bedroom
blank checks to employers and illegals disguised as guest workers programs
the porous borders
inequities in a broken system of taxation
the poor state of our education system
the value of the dollar and the deficit
the selling off of American assets
The Supreme Court composition
Sure like to see someone who could help reunite this country
Sadly I doubt if the existing parties can effectively deal with these issues.

Rimrock

 

[loggerhead]

quote by RONALD REAGAN

GOVERNMENT IS LIKE A BABY: AN ALIMENTARY CANAL WITH A BIG APPETITE AT ONE END AND NO SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY AT THE OTHER.

Rimrock, perhaps you are beginning to have a positive influence on him.

 

[Redworm]

Hey Redworm--How bout "or wants to take away my constitutional rights," or "who spies on me?" or "who spends money without permission," or "who changes the rules to suit their needs?" Just adding to the list, but your post exemplifies what I see as a quandary of sorts. Both sides are coming closer together. And at least for now, there are problems on both sides of the aisle.

Certainly. To be honest the only party that really meets all my needs is the Libertarian but, as many here have stated, they're pretty tactically ineffective. On the other hand the idea of getting the Republican party to act more like the Libertarian is simply not good enough for me because there are too many fundamental differences between the two (abortion, gay rights, science vs religion, drugs, immigration, etc).

I wouldn't like any politician that wants to take any constitutionally protected right however I'll focus on the more important ones. I'm sure the seventh is important but I doubt it's on the same level as the first, second, and fourth. It would just be nice if politicians were reminded that they're public servants.

 

[samoand]

Under the current set of circumstances, it makes perfect sense to identify yourself as Libertarian in all polls. If enough conservatives do, Republicans should get the message and make a deal with the third party for the fear of losing elections altogether. If they make a deal those votes would still go to Republicans, but we might have a hope for better 4 years; going Libertarian is the only way to let the politicians know that we've had of left influence.

There will be no Libertarian president in the near future, but it's about time to start getting right wing folks into the cabinet. Making them a tactically effective party is a two way street.

And if they don't make a deal? Well, someone who isn't able to step over his ego and/or understand simple things, doesn't deserve to win anyway. Let Democrats have it then, as things stand now difference would be marginal.

 

[TheEgg]

At the present time, I see no candidate on the horizon that I want to vote FOR.

Maybe by 2008, I will have identified a candidate I want to vote AGAINST.

 

[JerryM]

Republican without a doubt. The Republicans have the moral high ground in regard to homosexuality and abortion, and I am not displeased with the handling of the war. GWB is an excellent president, and does not sway with the winds of polls. Perfect? No, but about as good as we are ever going to get overall.

Libertarians are a joke as a viable party. It is about like fighting windmills. I think the young have not yet realized that to make a difference they must do something other than gripe and vote for a third party with no chance of making a difference.

If you want to make a difference then get involved in one of the two parties, and try to make it what you believe. Today that is the Republican party since all here are almost one issue voters - gun rights. Otherwise just gripe and many will join in the griping with no tangible results.

Jerry

 

[Jguy101]

Yeah....most people seem to stupid to vote for anything other than the Dems or Republicans. Try asking any Joe Schmo if he's heard of the Reform, Libertarian or Constitution parties. Not that many will have heard of them

Anyway....since the other parties really don'y have a chance, and I am a conservative, I'd have to say I'd usually go with Republican, although I might vote for a Zell Miller Democrat. Just have to be in line with my views on guns, abortion, taxes, spending, all that stuff.

 

[Mikeyboy]

I don't know who I'm going to vote for, until all the players are named. The only person I would have considered voting for on the democrat side was Weseley Clark. We are at war, he was a General...makes more sense. I doubt the democrats will put forward anyone decent. It will probably be Hillary, I really hope not, if it is I hope she loses. There are a lot of Republicans that could run, but none are getting me excited. At the end of the day, I will probably vote for whoever they pick to run against Hilliary, I could be a monkey for all I care. If Hilliary don't run and both canididates stink, I'll vote Libertarian.

If Bush was somehow able to run for a 3rd term, I would Definately not vote for him. I WAS a big supporter but now I think he is doing a real bad job. He as lost touch, with security issues, the war on terror, etc. I still agree with most of the positions of the republican party so I'll stick with them.

 

[Redworm]

The Republicans have the moral high ground in regard to homosexuality and abortion,

They very reason I refuse to vote for Republicans is because they believe they have an authority on what is or is not moral.

Today that is the Republican party since all here are almost one issue voters - gun rights

That's what I find disturbing. Being a one issue voter is pretty counterproductive, in my opinion. Would you support a candidate that says you can own whatever gun you want but that the media must be controlled by the government?

 

[Gary Conner]

Primaries

How many of you get involved in working for candidates during the primaries?

This time, for the first time in my life, I got involved by volunteering in our District attorney race (and unfortunately we lost by a measly 173 stinking votes)
I stood out on every early voting day, with a sign for my candidate, and talked and emailed, etc. to everyone I knew, since he was a VERY STRONG 2nd Amendment supporter, having worked to help draft the Texas CHL legislation with Representative Jerry Patterson of Texas.

We were understaffed, WAY UNDERFUNDED, and we almost beat the guy who had been in the DA office working as a prosecuter for ten years.

It is amazing, that out of a county of 180,000 residents, less than three thousand people determined who would be the District Attorney (since our county is 70/30 republican, the general election for DA will be over before it starts, as the Republican primary winner will be the general election winner)

My Candidate was a Liberatarian at heart, running as a Republican, and the other guy was a Left wing Democrat at heart, Running as a Republican, since Democrats don't win out here any more after turning the party into a bunch of socialist nutballs.

Virtually nobody pays attention to primaries, but then many of people then bitch all day long when their party runs a total goofus for President, Governor, etc.

My method of finding out who to support on a local level, is send an email to a candidate asking "How do you feel about guns?" and see how they respond.

I vote for the candidate least likely to want to register and then confiscate guns. But I got to meet a lot of really nice people that volunteer (on both sides) while stumping for my candidate, and if you want to make a difference, I think it is by getting involved at the primary level, and the candidates will actually pay attention to what will get them elected, so to push a pro gun agenda, local races are where it can affect you most, by talking to judge candidates, DA candidates, and JP candidates.

The president, and congressmen and senators are just purchased into office. The local guys have to work, listen, and pay attention to the voters more, since only about 7,000 people in the whole county vote at all!

 

[johnbt]

"Do you think voting Democrat might be a viable alternative?"

I doubt it. Depends on whether or not they keep running losers in the Presidential elections. Now, if they can get ex-governor Doug Wilder to run I might vote for him again. Of course, he's having a grand old time stirring things up as the mayor of Richmond.

John

 

[steelheart]

I vote for candidates who have a proven history of defending our Second Amendment rights. All other considerations are secondary. I don't care how many photos of him wearing a brand new L.L. Bean duckhunting coat and carrying around someone else's duck gun are on TV and the magazines - what matters is his past voting record.

If a candidate is a defender of the Second Amendment, that tells me alot about how he/she thinks and will act on alot of other issues - like the rest of the Bill of Rights.

Party affiliation is irrelevant to me. I do end up voting Republican alot though, because Democrat politicians are unswervingly devoted to socialism, not the Constitution and Bill of Rights. I will not vote for a socialist under any circumstances.

As far as Libertarian or other independents, they may have their minds right about the Second Amendment and the Bill of Rights, but they don't stand a snowball's chance in hell of getting elected to the offices that really matter - Governor, House of Representatives, Senator or President.

A vote for an independent is as good as a vote for a Democrat - I found that out the hard way when I voted for Ross Perot in the '92 Presidential election, and I won't make that mistake again.