Hah, Bitches, not a Quote of the day because I just posted one of thems, still I can really sink my teeth into this one by McThag (who BTW renamed his blog with Snark over 9,000!)
Yaaaaaay! Another primary completely decided before I get to vote in it!
4th most populous state in the nation and our votes don’t matter because we don’t vote first.
A pox on Iowa, a pox on New Hampshire, a pox on South Carolina!
And given that McThag’s home state is an actual Swing state unlike the retard bus that is my home-state of Massachusetts, his point does make a lot of sense.
I personally think the Primary system is a total circus, first we have constant competitions on who gets to be first, and how early can they open the polls, second we have backwards and Byzantine states that still hold a Caucus which is about the most fruitless political effort an electorate can do, and Lastly we have the Electoral College because we know that life in the Central Farmlands is about as different as life in the Eastern Megalopolis, or the Sprawling Urban Jungle of LA…or for that matter States like Arizona and Florida that have taken a distinction of “God’s Waiting Room” getting a HUGE population of retired people from colder states looking to spend their retirement money and live someplace warm for the last of their days.
Of course without the Electoral College All a Presidential Candidate would need to do is get a strong majority in many of the largest cities (and Note that these cities almost exclusively vote for the most Marxist candidates) and the rest of the nation could vote against them at 100% and amount to nothing in the popular vote. If you live in Wisconsin, or Vermont, or the Dakotas, or West Virginia, or Upstate New York, or Northern Pennsylvania, or any part of Texas that isn’t Dallas or Houston, not only will you not get an ounce of a say who’s president, but you won’t even see or hear from a Presidential candidate unless you want to stroke them a check…and even then the most you’ll get is a Thank-You card because you bring NOTHING to the table.
We all see the electoral college as a good thing (unless you’re a commie living in LA or NYC because its those darn working people disrupting your Socialist Paradise!) but why is it that only two states, Iowa and New Hampshire (and Iowa is one of those Backwards Caucus states…who only managed to get their count right YESTERDAY!) and we have 2 candidates already dropped out (I won’t count Cain because he bailed before Iowa when his trim piece stepped forward).
Personally I think these idiots should be forced to choose how they split their time throughout the country, and then one Tuesday in June all the states hold their primary votes on whoever decides they have a shot. That way the flannel wearing Mountain Man in New Hampshire or the Soybean farmer in South Carolina, or the handful of fanatics with nothing better to do but caucus in Iowa don’t have MORE to say than anybody else.
Just doesn’t make any sense to me at all how we do it now.
The way we do it is about the fact that our country is a confederation of sovereign States. It is up to each State individually to determine how their primary is to be decided, or, for that matter, whether a primary will even be held.
It’s messy, it’s contentious, and it’s probably not the most efficient method, but self-determination is a contentious, messy and sometimes inefficient thing.
Are you proposing that the federal government should step in and regulate how the states perform their primaries? Because, someone should “do something” or because “there outta be a law” or something.
Just like the federal government should step in and mandate to states what the speed limits should be, or whether they can de-criminalize the use of recreational intoxicants, or whether they can investigate the legal status of suspected immigrants when they are arrested for other crimes right?
In my humble opinion, we either support the constitutional limits of the federal government or we don’t. As soon as we choose an issue that is not specifically spelled out as a fedgov power in the constitution and say “well…it would be OK for them to regulate THAT issue, because I think something should be done about it”, we are tacitly granting permission for them to ignore the constitution at will.
Again, in my humble opinion, that’s exactly how we’ve gotten to this state of horrible federal government over-reach into every aspect of our lives: because someone, somewhere, thought “there outta be a law” or “someone’s got to do something about that” and got enough people to agree with them to get the law passed…Constitutionality notwithstanding.
A very valid point, and I wasn’t proposing a mode of solution, just what I thought could be a more efficient and fair way. It could be done by a central PAC lobbying states to shift their primaries to a similar date and to abandon the Caucus system that the majority of the voters don’t take part in, or it could be the GOP (or DNC) chair pushing for the same.
It also could be a federal law, but as a rule I’m with you in seeing more federal laws as being overall doing more harm than good.
I don’t object to HOW each state is choosing their delegates.
What I am objecting to is 19 million people in florida are being held hostage to the whims of less than 9 million.
I feel disenfranchised by it. Bush Jr was not my choice in the 2000 primaries, but my guy was gone by the time I got to vote because of the first three primaries. McCain and Romney weren’t my choices for 2008, but they were all that was left running by the time the vote got here.
Texas has 25.6 million people who are being denied their rightful decisions based on the votes of people who likely have nothing in common with them.
I lived in Iowa for a long time. They don’t think like Florida. A long time friend who moved to Austin confirms that Texas is also not Iowa in demeanor.
Congratulations political apparatchiks! By bowing to the might of just over 3 million people in Iowa you are saying that the votes of nearly 45 million don’t count!
Make a primary/caucus day. It’s not 1865 any more. The candidates don’t need days to travel by train to each state to canvass.
Actually, I see nothing in the Constitution about having Primaries at all. They just evolved over time to allow Political Factions to try and get Power.
Personally, I’d like to see the following happen in November: A) Election Day is a National Holiday, and everything gets shut down (exceptions for Fire, Hospitals, etc.). B) Registration is CLOSED 90 days before the Election. C) Photographic Proof of Citizenship is Required to Register AND Vote ( and I don’t want to hear about how that’s Unconstitutional, because I have to get a Police Background Check PLUS pay for a License to exercise MY RKBA in a Concealed Manner, so the rest of the Citizenry can get a taste of what we Gunnies have to go through!). D) ALL Election Results are SEALED and not released for 24 hours until the last Poll closes in Hawaii. Screw the MSM and their “Exit Polling”. E) All Lame Ducks and Losers in Congress are Immediately BANNED from Voting on Legislation, but they can still stay to represent their Constituents if they have Problems.
Oh, and the Military gets Reps sent to them with Ballots in the 90 days prior to the Election. None of this “Overseas Absentee Ballots are counted LAST” Shit. Lincoln did it during the Civil War, so don’t tell me it can’t be done.
But it’ll probably never happen, just like we’ll never get Congressional and Judicial Term Limits.
With modern mobility, there isn’t really any reason that the new guys can’t just come in the day after elections, is there? Eliminate the Lame Ducks altogether.
at least it keeps the bastards out of my state longer .
As a resident of Iowa who sees no sense in the caucus system (we get to hold our real primary later), I agree that there should be one day for all of the states to have their primaries on.
As far as Iowa’s few million residents disenfranchising all of the people in states with later primaries, I see that as turn-about for the BS we have to put up with out of Congress. Being a low-population state means we don’t get squat for representation in the House and our Senators are generally split between the two parties, so they cancel each other out.
At least my phone has stopped ringing since they moved on to NH and SC.
Damned robo-calls kept filling up the answering machine.
Ever discover that you weren’t saying what you thought you were?
Happens to me all the time.
What I meant to do, and failed, was to point out that candidates who could carry Texas and Florida may not play well in IA, NH or SC. Catering to two of the most populous states instead of two of the least might just get us a candidate who could win and wasn’t a damn RINO!
You live in Iowa, you know how blue the state is, with an odd streak of red. It defies classification really.
By the way, never discount the utility of opposing senators. It trends to be better for you because they only agree when something cannot be denied rather than getting a rubber stamp of party dialectic.