Change of Plans...

Remember the post from a couple weeks ago where I said it would be my only political discourse.  Well, things have changed.  Much of it is still the same and still applies.  Including the following:

"Anyone who votes a straight party ticket simply because of party affiliation should have their votes voided. Doesn't mean that it couldn't turn out that way, but base it on research and knowledge. Stupidity and ignorance should have no place in the polling booth."

But let me backtrack...

We are in the midst of "Montanagate" here.  We're talking break-ins at state offices, illegal campaign contributions, lawsuits, conflicting judicial rulings and injunctions, and in general, a return to late 19th-century politics.  And the timing of the main break-in seems to coincide with the broadcast of "Big Sky, Big Money" on PBS.   The PBS link will take you to the full video.  It's almost an hour long, but well worth watching.  It shows, in no uncertain terms, that in Montana, the election process is about as corrupted as you could imagine.  And the corrupt influence is well-financed by out-of-state money.  Primarily conservative money.  Not completely, but there's really no other place to point fingers at.  You really need to read/watch the link.  There's no simple and short way of stating things.

For weeks, I've been checking out candidate's positions and I've now decided that I will not be voting for a single Republican candidate.  Yes, I've done the research for the major candidates, but the local races are going to suffer.  I have a real problem with a Republican candidate for county commissioner coming out to say that they are against Obamacare and will do anything to bring it down.  WTF??  This is the way that most Republicans are campaigning around here.  Forget talking about subdivisions or emergency services or zoning law changes.  His only qualification apparently is that he opposes Obamacare, and thinks he can do something about it.  Sorry, that ain't gonna cut it.

I have re-evaluated the two major parties, and how they match (or differ) from my own views.  And the G.O.P. has lost.  Big time.  The Republican party has become party of bullies.  Hell, maybe they always have been, but I've never really had much of a political sense.  But from what I can tell, there's not a single one of them worth voting for.  And I'm hearing from many long-time Republicans that they're not sure what to do either.  They don't want to vote Democrat, but can't support the extremism that they're left with.  It's sort of a catch-22 for them.  As for me, I'm voting for Democrats, and a couple of independents. 

So I was looking ahead to writing some sort of monstrously long post, but found that someone wrote a blog post that said exactly what I was feeling, and much much more.  You can find his post here.  It's even more monstrously long than what I would have written, but written by someone much more knowledgeable and eloquent than I.  So if there's any of these links that you should check out, it would be this one, and go about halfway through it where starts with "1. I believe in fiscal responsibility."  From there to the end is a great read.  And I would add to his list that I could never vote for any Republican candidate that thinks that what is happening in Montana is okay, or doesn't condemn the actions of those involved.

After you read his post, go back and check the other links above.

And regardless of whether you agree with me or not, be sure you go vote on Tuesday.

And don't vote for Republicans.