It's time for Independents, Democrats and Republicans to come to toghether, in agreement that the congress sucks, to demand equal treatment for third party candidates and instant runoff elections so citizens can vote for the candidates they really want and the lesser of two evil candidates they prefer to settle for.
My youngest, eighteen, is squeamish. I was cleaning garbage out of the sink drain this morning, part of doing the dishes that I'd let soak overnight, when I realized, my eighteen year-old would be averse to putting his hands into the dirty water.
"Not enough cleaning sh*t," I thought, recalling the diapers I'd changed on my three kids.
And that's how my mind wandered to to politics-- how politicians have gotten so accustomed to "seeing sausage made," the analogy so commonly used because watching sausage being made is pretty disgusting, and so are the regular dealings of politics.
One wrote that he was older, only had one or two presidential elections left and wanted to be sure he didn't sell himself out, saying,
I'm facing my final one or two presidential elections, in all likelihood, and I'm thinking it's about time to be true to myself.
Now he's probably well able to clean the garbage out of the drain. Or maybe he's tired cooking and goes out to eat and doesn't have to deal with the usual garbage.
On the left and right, there is talk of fascism.
The right talks about needing to hold on to their guns to fight the police state-- even though, in my opinion, they're voting for the very people who are moving the US towards just that.
The left talks about fascism too-- about the ebbing of democracy, the loss of constitutional rights, freedoms, but unlike our friend who's decided he's too old to "settle," they keep voting in sell-out democrats.
We all know that congress's ratings are in the toilet, worst ever. Yet the system gives us so few choices.
In my state, the punitive laws are so unjust, unequal and unfair that it is almost impossible for a third party candidate to run. And there's no way that the people can put measures or propositions on the ballot, like in California. It's a lousy system, rife with cronyism and good ol' boy machine politics in both parties.
Yet I'm not ready to throw my vote away, which is what I believe one does by voting on a candidate who cannot win.
I am ready to work hard, to rais my voice, to take strong stands to change the system so third party candidates CAN be treated equally, can have equal access to the ballot-- none of this business where they are required to get more petitions signed than the primary two parties.
I am ready to demand that all elections for office be done using instant run-off or some comparable approach that requires that an election come down to two people, with people being allowed to select their first, second, third and fourth choices, gradually eliminating the ones with the least votes-- and all that can be done with paper back-ups for recounts and verification.
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