I hear the same thing each election: “It makes no difference” or “They’re all the same” or “My party/candidate/entire system betrayed me again.” And therefore, one more of my friends doesn’t vote. Most of my friends are somewhere on the left, and I want you to vote.
I share your disappointment. The Democrats have backed down so much in the last 20 years that they’re currently Eisenhower Republicans. It’s dispiriting, and it’s hard to be enthusiastic about most of these candidates.
Please vote. Here’s why.
They’re not all the same, and there is at least one huge difference between the parties.
If you are a woman, or have women in your family, or if you just like women, please vote for the Democratic party candidate. The Republican Party has almost uniformly opposed women’s reproductive rights. Their record on equal pay is just as bad. The Democratic Party defends women’s rights. Which do you want in control of Congress and the governors’ offices?
Despite the depressing similarity of candidates and parties, the rights of half the people are at risk from one side. And no matter how competent or centrist the Republican candidates appear, control of the Senate and House will have the same result for women.
Please hold your nose and vote a straight Democratic ticket tomorrow. It’s important.
Be My Blog 
I do not envy having to vote for Jerry Brown. What a tough thing.
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AND Gavin Newsom. This is like ’84, my first election, when I got to support MONDALE. Someone referred to Reagan in that election as “the evil of two lessers.”
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can i repost this? also remember about all the important ballot issues, and important small scale stuff like district supervisors and school board. that stuff may feel trivial, but is actually more vital to communities in the active day to day sense than overall governing in sac. PLUS BALLOT MEASURES VOTE YES ON 19!!!!! 😀 😀 😀
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Please! Thanks! And yes, the very local stuff is so important. The governor is a useless piece of meat, but your local water board makes shit happen, literally.
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The last time I did that, against reason and instinct, I re-elected Rod Blagojevich.
This is a horse-sized shit-smelling vomit-inducing pill to swallow.
Yet I will do it. Mostly for the reasons you outlined. But I can already feel my stomach turning.
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God I know. Fellow IL resident swallowing same. (I’ve come to terms with it by realizing we’ll get a crooked governor whichever we choose, simply cause we live here. :-p)
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My mom is a nursing home inspector for the Illinois, a lifelong democrat and one of the most fervent supporters of reproductive rights on the planet. She’s voting for Brady because Quinn is a jacktard. My mom is going to have to take 24 unpaid furlough days next year because of the way the dems controlled the money. And Illinois is under federal oversight when it comes to long-term care facilities and they are still cutting that budget.
It’s such a mess.
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Oh geez, my sympathies. That really, really sucks.
(I’m coming from the education side of things: my husband’s a public school teacher. Quinn basically called the teacher unions a bunch of whiny entitlement brats, and Brady wants to turn my husband’s state pension into non-matching 401Ks. So we’re screwed no matter what! Sigh.)
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I don’t get furlough days just days off. This month I think I have four five day weekends, without pay. It could be four six days weekends but I’m lazy.
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I agree with most of this, but where I live, I see no reason to vote for secure Democratic incumbents when I can use that vote to help a third party whose ideals I actually support become stronger.
(In our one competitive statewide race here, the Progressive and Green parties aren’t running anyone, so take that as you will.)
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That makes complete sense where you live, yep.
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respectfully
its just not so.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/03/white-house-announces-executiv.html
all you’re doing is rewarding bad behavior.
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Re: respectfully
not trolling here.. just haven’t commented on your lovely blog in a long time. i dig what you’re doing. now i’ll go hide back in my RSS reader hole 🙂
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Re: respectfully
I know you’re not trolling! It’s a serious thing and I respect your opinion. And that is a nasty business, you’re right.
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Re: respectfully
I don’t see how giving the Senate and the House to the Republicans is going to improve that situation.
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The Democrats have backed down so much in the last 20 years that they’re currently Eisenhower Republicans.
I love this and may quote it extensively.
However, cynic that I am (see my post tomorrow), I will concede that the Democrats have been largely better than the Republicans on women’s reproductive rights.
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OK, totally not trying to get caustic here, but you happen to have landed on an area about which I am really passionate.
If you are a woman, or have women in your family, or if you just like women, please vote for the Democratic party candidate. The Republican Party has almost uniformly opposed women’s reproductive rights.
So has the Democratic party.
http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/03/24/obama-hosts-anti-abortion-signing-ceremony/
This president’s utter & total betrayal of the brave women & men who worked on the frontlines of the struggle to gain abortion rights is revolting, and is part of a party-wide strategy. One can argue that between the two parties who’re willing to sell out women’s rights for votes, the Democrats will sell out fewer. But the Democratic party does not get to tout itself as the pro-choice party. It isn’t. It sells out choice at the first sign of opportunity.
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You’re right. That is a shocking betrayal and I hadn’t known about it until today.
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He’s just hoping to get a second term, by appealing to the conservative portion of the population. Poor guy has just been screwed from the start.
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