Holly, Hayley, and I all headed out this morning to Fuquay-Varina Fire Station #2 to participate in our citizenly duties.
The flow of people in the station was pretty steady while we were there, but not crazy. There were two people in front of us in line to get the ballots, but all the voting stations were full and some people were filling out ballots at a table in the middle of the room. I waited my turn for a booth, though.
My precinct still uses paper ballots (thank God), so it was a black marker and connect-the-arrow for me. The ballot was full – both sides of a large piece of paper. Aside from the national and statewide races, there were quite a few judicial races (many with just one candidate), three NC constitutional amendments, and a couple of Wake County bonds. Plus, some guy who looked familiar.
Hayley decided that she would campaign for the “Tantrum Party” within the polling place, in violation of election law. We were worried that she’d be shipped off to Guananamo, but we managed to finish and get her out before she was declared an “enemy combatant.”
As for me, I voted Libertarian in all but a couple of races that had Libertarian candidates running, and in the rest of them, I voted Democrat. Which is somewhat surprising on its surface, since I was a registered Republican before switching to the LP and, if I had to pick one of the two major parties to say that I agreed with their principles, I’d pick the Republicans. However, the current Republican party is so batshit crazy that I can’t bring myself to support any candidate who associates with them.
One of the strangest things I’ve heard said recently was “I’m a conservative Republican, so I’m voting for Bush.” The thing that made it strange is that Bush, and by proxy most of the current Republican party, is as far away from “conservative” as you can get, if you look at what conservative principles should be.
- A conservative believes in a limited Federal government. Current Republicans believe in extending the feds’ reach, through programs as varied as the “PATRIOT” act and “No Child Left Behind.”
- A conservative believes in states’ rights. Current Republicans cry “judicial activism” and shit bricks when a state court makes a decision that they don’t agree with, and attempt to overturn it through the Federal government.
- A conservative believes in fiscal responsibility. Current Republicans believe in spending money like it grows on trees, a massive budget deficit, and the largest Federal government in terms of budget ever. Seriously. They’re like Democrats without any sense of restraint.
- A conservative believes that that people should be left alone to live their lives without government interference. Current Republicans want to amend the Constitution in order to make gays second-class citizens.
- A conservative believes in a sane foreign policy. Current Republicans believe that having soldiers die in Iraq somehow will fight terrorism.
- A conservative believes in personal responsibility. Current Republicans believe in staying on their talking points and will never, ever, admit a mistake, even when the evidence is overwhelming.
- A conservative believes in lower taxes. Ok, current Republicans talk a good game on this one, and have made a small degree of progress, but their spend-happy ways mean that they can only provide a token tax cut, which is offset by the deficit growth. Without cutting government spending, a tax cut does more harm than good in the long run.
The only “conservative” trait Republicans have is Christian fundamentalism, and they’ve got that in spades. Apparently that’s enough to hide the fact that they violate nearly every other principle a “conservative” would say that they value. If you’re a conservative, you should be voting Libertarian, as they’re the only semi-major group that actually stands for those principles. If you value those principles and vote Republican, you’re rewarding the people who hijacked what used to be the Party of Principle and turned it into a farce. I refuse to support that.
So I voted Libertarian where I could, and Democrat where I needed to. Even though it won’t matter in North Carolina, I’m glad I got to register my voice.
