Obligatory Election Post
According to this article, it appears that my voting record is unchanged from previous years. A quick scan suggests that as usual, with one or two exceptions everyone I voted for lost, everything I voted against won, and everything I voted for failed.
Yeah. That's pretty much been the way it's been since I turned 18. :}
The sole exception was the measure proposing merit-based pay for teachers. I voted against it, but not because I in any way oppose the idea in principle: it's just that in practice the performance metrics were ill defined or irrationally defined.
Actually, there may have been a couple of others. I think I probably voted against mandatory minimum sentences - at least, I know DEC did. I waffled. But the reasoning wasn't that I didn't want mandatory minimums for ID theft, but that I didn't want it for most drug crimes: there's always a trade-off when you decide certain classes of crime MUST be punished with a certain severity, and when push comes to shove I'd rather have murderers in prison than druggies.
And I think I abstained on a couple, like changing to an open primary system. That one failed, but I had no strong opinion either way.
Aside from the obvious Presidential race (I voted Constitution Party, for the record, along with .43% of my state) the ones that Really tick me off - and baffle me to boot - are the ones where people willingly signed up to pay more taxes and make it easier for their taxes to be raised in the future. Specifically, Oregon's double majority law was overturned, which required all tax increases to pass by a margin of 50% of *registered voters,* not recorded votes. Sheesh. I really liked the idea that failing to vote was the same as voting "no" on those issues. In fact, if I could have expanded it to apply to all measures and races, I probably would have. ;)
Anyway, I've often felt a bit of a "bunker mentality" living in this very Blue part of this mostly Blue state, and I can see why when I look at the election map: 63% of my county and 75% of the adjoining, and largest, county voted Obama.
Wow.
Yeah. That's pretty much been the way it's been since I turned 18. :}
The sole exception was the measure proposing merit-based pay for teachers. I voted against it, but not because I in any way oppose the idea in principle: it's just that in practice the performance metrics were ill defined or irrationally defined.
Actually, there may have been a couple of others. I think I probably voted against mandatory minimum sentences - at least, I know DEC did. I waffled. But the reasoning wasn't that I didn't want mandatory minimums for ID theft, but that I didn't want it for most drug crimes: there's always a trade-off when you decide certain classes of crime MUST be punished with a certain severity, and when push comes to shove I'd rather have murderers in prison than druggies.
And I think I abstained on a couple, like changing to an open primary system. That one failed, but I had no strong opinion either way.
Aside from the obvious Presidential race (I voted Constitution Party, for the record, along with .43% of my state) the ones that Really tick me off - and baffle me to boot - are the ones where people willingly signed up to pay more taxes and make it easier for their taxes to be raised in the future. Specifically, Oregon's double majority law was overturned, which required all tax increases to pass by a margin of 50% of *registered voters,* not recorded votes. Sheesh. I really liked the idea that failing to vote was the same as voting "no" on those issues. In fact, if I could have expanded it to apply to all measures and races, I probably would have. ;)
Anyway, I've often felt a bit of a "bunker mentality" living in this very Blue part of this mostly Blue state, and I can see why when I look at the election map: 63% of my county and 75% of the adjoining, and largest, county voted Obama.
Wow.