Setanta wrote:Coastal, although who see me as their partisan opponent here may not believe it, i have never been a voter along party lines. I do try to inform myself, and i remain sceptical in any election. I vote against candidates more often than i am voting for someone. If i cannot discern a significant difference, or cannot inform myself to my satisfaction, then i will vote for women when the field is largely male, i will vote Democratic in a Republican area, or vote Republican in a Democratic area. In the election of judges, when it is difficult to effectively inform oneself, i tend to vote for women and minorities on the principle that they are underrepresented on the bench. I make my most thorough effort to inform myself on ballot initiatives and tax levies when they will appear on the ballot.
It is not easy to be a responsible voter, and simply following partisan lines does us all a disservice.
I agree with you Set. I know of too many people in the past who have voted for someone they really did not like, yet did so because he was their party's candidate. To me, this is stupid.
The last couple of times that Strom Thurmond ran down here in SC, I just couldn't bring myself to vote for him. I still basically agreed with his politics, but it was obvious that he could no longer properly represent me. I had a friend get mad because he couldn't understand how any republican could bolt party lines.
Sometimes I think the worst thing ever done was to install that single button on voting machines that will automatically cast a straight party vote. People don't have to think, just hit the button and you're a loyal party person. Of course, not having is no guarantee anyone will do any thinking, but....
