Voters’ Meeting
I have spent some time observing your country, taken a look around. First, I’d like to say that you are the owners of a wonderful country. It is bright, vibrant, diverse. It has a lot of potential.
However…
You are letting your politicians walk all over you. They ignore you when you tell them what to do. They laugh at you when you express your displeasure. They hang around with people who you have forbidden them to talk to. They behave as if your vote doesn’t count. And you let them get away with it. When they scream and cry for money, you give it to them. When they accuse you of being “old, stupid, reactionary, Republican, racist, terrorists”, you vote for them anyway. And in all that time, they have made only half-hearted efforts to clean up the environment and make the tax system more fair. They think you’re not serious about health care reform, financial regulation and giving you the best educational system in the world. They fight- *constantly*- with each other and other countries.
And they will continue to do this because they think you are total pushovers. You have not enforced any discipline in your politicians. You let them get away with everything. If you want your country and control back, something’s got to change. You have to be willing to step up and make some changes. Are you ready to roll up your sleeves and put this country back in order?
Step One: Laying down the rules
The first thing we need to do is tell the politicians what we want and then deliver that message clearly and unambiguously. If politicians aren’t delivering the results you want, it could be because you are sending them mixed messages. You need to establish what kind of government you want and then stick with it. You have to figure out what you value and put it into words. Your politicians’ noisy friends will try to distract you whilst you are thinking about this. So, I recommend you shut the TV off whilst you are composing your set of rules based on your beliefs. You can use our credo as an example
Second, deliver these values and rules to your politician. Your politician now has no excuse for ignoring you. You have told him/her what you expect and there should be no confusion about it from this point forward.
Step Two: Discipline
This step will require a committment from you because it will take some time before your politician gets it.
If your politician is not following your rules and living up to your values, you should immediately issue them a warning. Call your politician’s or party’s office or meet them in person. Use your authoritative voice and say, “I don’t like what you’re doing. If you do not stop, I will put you in the Naughty Spot for your next term of office.” If your politician does not comply, put him/her in the Naughty Spot. For a Congressman, this is two years; for a Senator, six years; for a Governor, four years, etc.
When the politician attempts to get out of the Naughty Spot, calmly put them back on the Spot. Do not attempt to argue with them if they make a fuss. Simply repeat the reasons why you have taken the steps you are taking: They knew the rules. They made an infraction. You warned them. They are being disciplined. If they want off the Naughty Spot, they have agree to listen to you and to apologize to you.
In order for this to work, the Voter has to present a united front with other voters. You have to have the courage to enforce the rule. This is your responsibility as citizens. You can’t run away from your responsibilities and expect that someone else is going to keep your politicians in line or that they will do it themselves. They need your guidance and committment and they will comply much more quickly when they see you mean business and that voters are backing each other up.
This will not be easy. It will take time and persistence. You will feel like you’re not getting anywhere for awhile. But stick with it. Throwing a few of them on the Naughty Spot will focus their attention more effectively than you think. Before you know it, they will be much more cooperative and life more harmonious with your values.
Here is your first opportunity, voters of New Jersey. Neither Chris Christie or Jon Corzine has behaved in a manner worthy of your vote. They both represent parties that have taken you for granted and will continue to do so for four years. Chris Daggett is a smart, optimistic man who has potential to deliver for you, the voters of NJ. He has been endorsed by the Sierra Club, he has a plan to reduce property taxes and he knows that if you don’t like him as governor, he can be thrown out in four years. The other two candidates are going to walk all over you. What are YOU going to do about it?
Well, I know what I’m going to do. I’m throwing Chris Christie and Jon Corzine on the Naughty Spot for four years and I’m voting for Daggett. Go forth, NJ, and do likewise.
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Filed under: NJ Governor's race 2009 | Tagged: chris daggett, Election Day in New Jersey, Independent for Governor of NJ, Supernanny
Good luck with that!
We send them mixed messages because we have mixed ideas about what we want them to do.
It’s very simple, actually. The problem is that we let the forces of evil divide us too often. But I think most Americans know what they want. They’re all in favor of fairness, equality, opportunity, you know, the American Dream. that’s a good place to start.
RD – I live in NJ. I really understand what you are saying and agree with you, but I cannot take the chance voting for Dagget. I cannot risk having the Rove-clone Christie win today. I am SO conflicted . . . .
Suziq: Please go somewhere else for the rest of the day. I can’t take the risk that you are an operative and I really don’t want to ban you. But this is a serious post. I am voting for Daggett because neither of the two other party reps deserve my vote. If that means Corzine sits it out for four years, than that is HIS fault for not being a very good governor.
If enough people are as fed up as I am, Daggett will win. If it takes another four years of a failed politician and political machine for NJ to toughen up and throw them out, so be it.
How will we ever break away from the current “try to decide which is the lesser of two evils” system we have if people won’t give 3rd parties a chance?
ditto
The only way they will get the message is if a third party candidate makes a real showing even if not winning.
It’s that “smack up the side of the head” that they need to wake them up.
I’m voting for Daggett!
By the way RD – I love your post and would like to send it to other Jerseyans if I may.
I live in NJ too and cast my vote for Chris Daggett this morning. Hope he wins!
good luck today, rd – it’s time for things to change.
Don’t wish me luck. Wish Dagett luck, He’s been fighting an uphill battle here in NJ. The major parties have a lock on good poll positions. Finding him on a ballot is going to be tough. Spread the word if you can. Link, link, link.
what are the poll numbers? Does he stand any chance at all?
I read your site daily, but post little, so that automatically makes me some kind of operative??? Sorry to say this is not a nice way to welcome someone who posts rarely. Do you truly believe I am not taking your post seriously? I would not have taken the time to reply if your post didn’t touch a nerve and has me reconsidering my vote today. You make some really good points.
Susieq: We have been posting since Jan 2008. We KNOW that operatives hang around here. For a good part of the primary season, we were like one huge focus group. Our numbers have come down but we know when spikes happen that there are operatives hanging out here.
I find your comment disturbing because it suggests that there is nothing worse than a Republican in office. And while I tend to agree that Chris Christie is a slime who I wouldn’t vote for in a million years, I also know that the worst thing in the world is not Governor Christie.
It’s apathy.
Suziq, you fear Rove but not Axelrove? The only way today is the middle way, between equal evils. IMHO.
A vote for Daggett hurts Christie much more than Corzine anyway. Plus you get to send a message rejecting both entrenched parties and support the movement for more independent candidates.
And more support for more independent candidates will send shivers down the Big-Business-As-Usual-Pols’ smarmy necks.
Apparently the DNC agrees with you since a local off-shoot was making robo calls for …..Daggett.
Wait, I’ve seen this very pattern of phrases before… oh yea, all during last year. And right before an election, it’s there again. What an amazing coincidence.
I wish Indiana would have strong Independents run in key races. Our state laws are such that third party candidates can rarely even get on the ballot here. I imagine we are not the only state with that problem.
It’s the same way here in MA.
Interesting how it’s not the role of our SoS to weigh in on these races. Her active endorsements might have been meaningful for the Dems and the DNC. Sorry.
Well, I can understand the people not wanting Christie to get in office and voting for Corzine by default but I also can understand people voting for the independent. Frankly, if I lived in NJ I might just be sitting out this election seeing as Corzine hasn’t been great, Chrisite is just down right gross and the independent has almost no chance of winning.
yes, but if you voted for the independent eve4n if he didn’t come close, the bigger his vote the bigger the message to the DNC.
If I were in NJ I would vote for Daggett and then send an email to the DNC and tell them why.
Well that’s not a bad idea but I already told them what I thought and it didnt do any good then.
yes I know, so discouraging. However if they see a shift at the polls they will listen.
Excellent post, Riverdaughter!
Corzine lost my vote on the floor of the Democratic Convention, and there is no way I would ever vote for that slimeball Christie.
I’ll be voting for Daggett, as will my husband.
I WISH I could be in NJ and votingfor Daggett.
I’m in VA and will be witnessing a Republican sweep and a big FU to the White House.
RD & Myiq are right…. this vicious circle of can’t vote for the independent because the republican might win is bullshit. I believe Democrats acting against our best interests is far more damaging. Daggett will probably lose ~ but the other two choices are equally vile, so a good showing for Daggett will do everybody good in the long run.
Likewise though I would say Deeds deserved to lose. His position on health care was milquetoast and he ran a poor campaign where he failed to distinguish himself from his competitor.
Deeds was definitely not ready for prime time. And really everyone knew it. Most everyone knew the only way to win was with McAuliffe. But his Hillary status and his outsider status did him in with the Obots and others. So this is what we get.
Agree. One step at a time. Don’t vote for bad or pretend Dems. Vote against them however you can. Better showing by Independents is the only way to save this country IMHO. Both parties are owned and will never change.
And yep, here in VA, we’re so screwed. And just in time for redistricting. How special.
@JakeTapper: DNC already emailing around an analysis…saying VA/NJ races say much more about those candidates than they do about POTUS…kind of early in the day for the DNC to be throwing that out there!
Do you think they would be saying that if they expected the Democrats to win both those races?
That would be fun to explain in the NYC Mayoral race – where both candidates boast support from Obama and one is bound to lose….
this morning I saw a clip of deerPresident (spelling intentional) saying that now that he has brought the economy back from the brink after the mess he inherited, he is now going to make jobs his main priority.
funny, he could have done both at the same time had he not rewarded big business with regulation free giveaways. He should have bailed out the people in the first place like they did in other countries and everything would be better by now.
The man truly is clueless.
Not clueless, he knows who brung him to the dance and paid/is paying them back.
Agree. If you see a politician doing something for big business and against the people, instead of questioning their logic or reasoning ability, you should be questioning their ethics and morals.
Smells like distractive BS to me.
Then why did POTUS, Biden and more spend so much time campaigning. I even saw a photo of campaign signs for Corzine with Obama’s name on them too.
someone must really be worried about Daggett.
Now there is a story that he is a stalking horse for Corzine. Apparently the state dems paid for robo calls in Somerset County. I am at work so I can not link but it is on the Drudge report so take it for what it is worth.
WOMEN WITH INTELLIGENCE AND EXPERIENCE,MEN WHO SUPPORT THEM AND COUNTRY BEFORE PARY ALWAYS
PUMAS,BUBBAS,EQUALISTS AND THOSE PEOPLE RULE
I am in an interesting situation here. About a year ago I “took up” with a conservative republican NRA loving Clinton hating republican. It was quite a surprise to me actually and now I am living here in republican paradise with the “enemy”.
Last night we got a robo call from the NRA telling Al who to vote for. It was amusing considering that my normal robo calls come from various members of the Clinton and Gore families.
So today I am going to the polls and voting my new philosophy, I will be voting for women. I don’t care what party they are and I do not care if they are pro-choice or not. If there are two women and one is a democrat I will vote for her. This is republican country and no democrat is going to win anyway.
In the last few days the TV has been playing an interesting commercial from a male democrat talking in code about how he alone supports women’s rights (meaning abortion rights) so vote for him. It makes me wonder if men are getting nervous that women will not always support the democratic candidate in some knee jerk fashion.
My reasoning is that it is more important to get parity for women in power before anything else. Then I will worry about whether we have all the right women. I am certain that with women holding 51 percent or more of the political power this will be a better nation.
The Clinton Robocalls from the NRA are quite humorous imo.
The bright side to my vote today is I do get to vote for Jody Wagner.
me too! now she’s a keeper
Yup
If you were in MN and had a choice between voting for Michele Bachmann and a male Independent or Democrat, would you support Bachmann only because she is female?
I also support having more women with political power but ideology is more important to me than gender. I could never vote for someone like Bachmann, even if she does have a uterus.
Brachmann is likely an exception to every rule.
so true.
so true. I would vote for Barack Obama before voting for here and that is sayin’ sumthin
I would vote for Bachmann. Voting for men who “share my ideology” has not rendered such great results. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. It’s time to try something new. I would vote for the woman – any woman, including Michele.
yup… I have voted for many democratic males only to have them throw me off the boat any time it was convenient.
I can’t imagine voting for Bachmann under any circumstances. I have to say I wouldn’t vote for Sarah Palin under those conditions either. I can’t imagine voting FOR Sarah in most circumstances …
which is why we will never have 51 percent of the political power in this country. Yes if you vote for women you will help elect some duds. But we have been doing that for centuries anyway.
yes I would vote for Bachman. I thought I was pretty clear. I bet you have voted for plenty of duds just because they were democrats. I know I have.
ps… I do not have a uterus, does that make me NOT a woman? Having a uterus is not the point. Giving women representation with their taxation is.
Bachmann is something far worse than a “dud”.
Good for you. For everyone who’s so concerned with “identity voting” or whatever you want to call it, recruiting female and minority candidates is probably a better strategy because I’d be very surprised if even one vote’s ever been changed by somebody telling someone that’s not a criteria I would vote on, therefore you shouldn’t either.
Personally, I’ll be happy to vote against any Republican woman, provided the Democratic male isn’t the traditional useless, hapless, or malevolent idiot. Give me some combination of Wellstone and Feingold that I can be excited about instead of some loser I need to be scared into, and I’m there. Otherwise, over the course of my lifetime (not my voting lifetime,
my entire lifetime, since birth), there have been about 5 women to vote for at any level, including local. This includes Hill and Carol
Mosely Braun. The temptation to have to break out a second counting hand before another 20 years go by is, therefore, pretty strong.
Well, once women’s access to abortion and birth control are gone (and it’s nearly there now in most places), then Roe v. Wade becomes academic.
it is already academic to me. I am 52 and haven’t had to worry about birth control since I was 31. If young women want access to abortion they had better do something about it and NOT go to the polls and vote for Obamas who vote “present” on women’s civil rights. Maybe if they have to fight for their rights they will appreciate them more.
Why is HBO running a documentary tonight about the Obama Campaign last year. Maybe because HBO like CNN is owned by Time Warner, and they are so in the tank.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1109/Coaching_Obama.html
The big divider in these races is the money. Money to advertise, money to open offices and pay staff. Money to buy positive press – yea, money buys the press.
Its money that has created the election mess in NY-23. The same money that created the Swift Boat crap against John Kerry. Obama caused money to become even more important to an election. His legitimacy was propped up by the money tallies reported each week/month. Question though, where did that money come from? Who were the bundlers? How many times did the same person or family donate amounts under the reportable limit. Our votes mean nothing with the obscene amounts of money that hide in the background.
Until we fix the influence of money in politics, we’ll always be at the mercy of a 2 party system. A winning 3rd party candidate would do wonders toward correcting this mess.
Yeah, it’s a shame people didn’t have the choice of voting for someone who took public financing and worked with Feingold for years on finance reform. oh, wait …
I agree, that is the key, getting the money influence out.
The public owns the airwaves, each candidate should be given a certain amount of airtime free to push their case. Maybe a public print house for mailers and donated buses for travel and only a certain amount of public financing to even the field. I don’t know exactly how to do it in a ‘free society’ but something must be done.
And frankly, Nadar not being able to run for president in all the states needs to be solved too. If an Indie can’t get on the ballot for the president how will they ever win? He talked about spending a lot of money in the courthouses trying to sue his name onto ballots.
Clearly, someone was trying to burn through his cash and block his efforts.
It’s Obama vs Obama in the NYC election
http://edgeoforever.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/nyc-mayoral-its-obama-vs-obama-and-other-election-bits/
Good luck and best wishes for Daggett from Texas.
How well does he need to do to force a runoff under NJ rules?
I second that-good luck and best wishes for Daggett from Italy.
About time Independents start voting for Independents, and take no notice about whether they split the vote or not. (doubly horrifying for a politician…)
An Ibsen scholar and American electoral realist !
A tip o’ the hat to you. Viable effective third parties just don’t spontaneously generate, we do have to go out and vote them into existence. I can’t actually add to your numbers there from out in the fly-over wasteland but I type in solidarity. Someone needs to start pushing this rock uphill, – go NJ!!
you’re making friends next door I see.
We can rationalize and theorize all we want, but at the ballot box, a vote for Daggett, based on polls, is basically a Nader vote. If your goal is to bring down the Dem party that cheated us last year, that’s not how I would vote, if I were in NJ. A vote against Corzine is just not enough; you need to bring down that sob and I don’t think a Daggett vote would do that.
Vote against bad Dems however you can. I like the idea of step by step pushing up independents though. But you have a point, to ensure the anti-democratic Dem gets tossed out, the evil repub is your best bet.
While I completely respect River’s choice, I am also reminded of the Nadar issue. And that the DNC need to be taught a lesson about respecting their voters.
Brazile made it clear what the DNC really thought about old school Dems. That they weren’t needed or wanted in the ONC.
The ONC needs to be tossed they are no better than the Bush Admin and voting for Daggett isn’t going to wake them up. They will giggle at the divided opposition vote.
I understand the need to help these third party candidates but if the DNC is paying for robo calls to support the third party candidate, Daggett. It is clear who they think will benefit from those votes. The Dems.
Under no circumstances could I have voted for Christie – even if he was the only one running! Not because he’s a Repub but because he had NOTHING to offer, his campaign was awful and he’s kind of sleazy in his whole approach.
I refused to vote for Corzine because of his O connection and his disenfranchising us last Nov.
So I pressed the button for the guy I wanted to vote for he brings a fresh view and my vote was not just a protest vote against the others – it was a vote FOR Daggett.
I completely respect voting FOR someone. Truly, I hope he wins and frankly think you are lucky to have two other candidates to vote for.
My Congresscritter ran unopposed, in fact in 2008. the only race I could vote for someone other than the Dem incumbent was for the presidential slot. And even worse, I think an Obot at the polling station pulled my vote for McCain because of the way absentee ballots are handled in CA. If I don’t vote in the big elections they don’t send a new absentee ballot. I haven’t received one and we walked in our ‘08 absentee ballots because I changed my mind on a large tax issue in CA so I signed over my absentee ballot and voted standard. Which never negated absentee ballot votes previously.
I think the Obot pulled both of my ballots. It is the only way for me not to receive an absentee ballot.
So my disgust with the ONC continues…like most here….and are given yet another reminder today of the dirty tricks of last year.
ugh….poorly written post…sorry about that.
I think they pulled a lot of ballots, too.
And here in NY, you can’t tell the players without maybe a signed note from her mother…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York’s_23rd_congressional_district_special_election,_2009
I was checking to see what the latest word is on the race in the 23rd NY and read this article, the interesting part of which I quote:
The chair of the New York Democratic Party stated that Scozzafava’s husband had spoken with key local Democrats about the possibility of her switching to the Democratic Party before running for the seat.[15]
Now doesn’t that put a different face upon it?
RD Naughty Spot ?? i would have not been so polite
Love this post RD. That’s exactly the right way to think about and treat naughty politicians. Of course there are far too many of them that would probably like to be handled as naughty by a supernanny.
Is Supernanny a good program. Should I be watching it.
I’ve seen it briefly while channel surfing. It’s depressing. The number of hapless parents out there makes me want to force sterilization on a lot of people and that very idea striking me as being legitimate in some cases gives me the creeps. Too many dysfunctional families in this country!
They don’t believe in spanking kids, but I bet they have different punishments for naughty adults.
Wonder how this event is going today.
http://www.rockthevote.com/one-year-later.pdf?awesm=6DHa&utm_campaign=rockthevote&utm_medium=awe.sm-copypaste&utm_source=&utm_content=site-basic
A basic discipline for politicians course! I love it! Brilliant, funny, and spot on, RD!
Huffpo bit defensive.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/03/11-most-paranoid-obama-co_n_343771.html?slidenumber=0YZekts8vlQ%3D#slide_image
As long as people keep voting for bad Democrats because “the Republicans are worse” we’ll keep getting stuck with bad Democrats.
Like Obama
With repubs or dems you’re either getting screwed from the front or screwed from the back…your choice!
ayup
I’m pretty through with the Dems figuring they have my vote sewn up simply because they aren’t the Republicans.
Best statement of the day!
Delusional democrats think they are better. A little-noticed measure would put Christian Science healing sessions on the same footing as clinical medicine. Critics say it violates the separation of church and state.
Healthcare provision seeks to embrace prayer treatments
Heh.
I saw that … it’s insane.
Meanwhile Ob Gyn visits or birth control doesn’t get coverage because it’s voodoo science dotcha know.
With Democrats’ “support” for women, who the frig needs enemies.
Jeebus, that’s nuts. OK, that’s it, I’m going to file for a grant to learn to shrink heads as part of my new medical treatment research. Now where did I put that chicken.
It was only bad when Bush violated the separation of church and state. Now, violation of the separation of church and state has 85% more hopiness and 99% more hottness with 2 ts. No worries.
Um, unless Christian Science is somehow related to Palin’s personal scary primitive throwback voodoo witchdoctorism. That’d be bad. Someone call NPR to break into the CS church, we’ve got to get to the bottom of this.
Wow! And both the Mass senators pushed for this!
The CS Mother church looks like the Vatican. If they built that through donations, I’m guessing their members are probably above average in income and a good target population to hit up for political contributions.
My grandmother was a practicioner … they’re a dying breed. It’s mostly really really old people from what I understand.
You should see Mary Baker Eddy’s gravesite. It’s unbelieveably garish. Maybe you have–it’s in Mt. Auburn Cemetary in Cambridge.
Currently Medicare and Medicaid pay for inpatient services furnished by “religious nonmedical health care institutions.” Prior to 1997 the Social Security Act specifically referred to “Christian Science sanatoria.” The amendments in 1997 broadened the coverage.
Unbelieveable! Children have died because of those “healing sessions” being substituted for real medicine.
can’t wait till the counting is over,we will find out if bo has any coattails.
Now they’re bashing Sarah for stuff she was allegedly gonna do but didn’t:
Since she never did it, how does she prove she wasn’t planning to do it?
They can read minds. Didn’t you know? /snark
I’d ignore a bunch of jackasses barking condescending orders at me as if I had no common sense, as well.
LOL
The right to arm bears:
Bears are patriotic. They loathe militancy in all its forms. Militants make them wear those little red pants.
Good to know.
And here I thought the red pants were Russian and came with the bicycle.
They are Russian, that’s why the bears object to them. Didn’t Booboo’s defiance of Ranger Man’s attempts to assert federal dominance over our pristine wilderness tell you anything about bears’ fundamental anti-authoritarian orientation?
Learned all my politics from the anti-authoritarian bears. It’s sometimes easy to tell …
The gods are angry.
Whoo-hoo! I’m about to vote.
Voted for Daggett. Corzine’s campaign manager sent a hail Mary email asking for more votes late this afternoon. It’s going to be close.
The polling place driveway was thick with Chistie signs. It looks like someone moved Daggett’s signs farther away (is that legal?) and Corzine signs were hard to find.
Check this out. Obama’s poll ratings are still lousy and lots of Americans wish Hillary were President instead of the Koolaid Kid.
http://pumapac.org/2009/11/03/pass-the-popcorn/
Thanks. That was a hoot!
hahahahahahaha — laughed like crazy, thanks.
well Rd & Co, I hope your candidate wins! Out here it looks like Jerry Brown for all us REAL DEMS.
hahahahahahahah! (the other guy is out)….
good luck RD!