Interesting thoughts. It's sure nice that for once it isn't so vitriolic.
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With that said, what's more powerful from a political standpoint? Protecting your point of view with defensive voting, picking the lesser of two evils... or sacrificing 4 years of governance by a group you don't like, but sending a message to your nominee that you won't tolerate the lies and misleading campaign rhetoric that gets them to power?
Four years of governance by a group I don't like is much worse than voting for the lesser of two evils. The "message" you are trying to send by not voting for your own stances is doesn't get sent. By voting like that, you are just giving up everything you believe in to send a message you don't even know for sure is being heard. This is not worth it.
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The reality is that with McCain in power, you know what would change? Not a whole damn lot. But not a whole damn lot has changed even with Dems in a supermajority. The war in Afghanistan is a total fucking mess. Our economy is not growing private sector jobs *at all*. Our political process is as deadlocked as ever. Gitmo ain't closed and won't be for the foreseeable future. We're no closer to equal rights for gays than we were 2 years ago. Our foreign policy is a disaster and we've made no progress with Iran, North Korea, Israel/Palestine or Russia.
There is SO much here that is just coming from your perspective of "everything Obama does is bad, no matter what," so I'm not going to address it. I'll merely say that I disagree about the truth of most of it and just let it go at that.
However, I do want to point out a sentence in the middle, where you state that "our political process is as deadlocked as ever," as though this is a bad thing. But you want divided government, right? That gridlock is a direct result of the divided government you crave.
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If you took an even somewhat impartial look at the last election, the process was extraordinary. I watched as Hillary Clinton was demagogued and demonized until she became the lesser of two evils. I then watched as McCain, the person with the *most* bipartisan record of any of the mainstream candidates, was demonized and demagogued. It was enough to take your breath away.
I wanted to Hillary too, and hopefully you remember that. But Obama isn't that much different. McCain, however was simply not an option for me, and never was, for a variety of reasons. Obama too was demonized and demagogued as well, but you believed that rhetoric so you don't see it that way.
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So right now, your disappointment stings. But in another year, once the campaign machine fires up, there will be enough garbage out there to turn whoever the GOP nominee is into the devil incarnate, and once again... you'll faithfully trudge back to the voting booth, eager to reelect the person who violated so many promises.
As long as the GOP candidate continues to support issues that I disagree with more than his or her opponent, it is true that I will not vote for him or her. That's it, for me. I can't control the lying, and both sides do it. I have to simply go with the one that at least makes an attempt to be on my side.
BTW, I am still not as cynical as some here. I believe, and always have believed, that Bush was acting in what he sincerely believed was good for the country. I believe the same about Obama. I believe, in fact, that many or most of our leaders are there in Washington because of a sincere desire to change the country in good ways. I just don't agree with what many think those good ways are, and I believe that the process to get and keep a position in Washington is so corrupt it's nearly impossible to stay clean and keep your job.