Voting

I voted this evening. Here's how it went:

President: Bush. I wanted to go Badnarik, but the libertarian party needs to put up a real candidate and not some the-IRS-doesn't-exist-/-taxes-are-a-crime wacko.

Senate: Richard Randall, the libertarian guy. Coors is a lying dick. You can see it in his commercials. He's trying to smear the hell out of Salazar when every semi- objective source seems to support Salazar's record in the past. That's not to say that I necessarily trust Salazar in the future, but Coors is being a dick. Sometimes I feel like I'm not being a good Colordoan. I want to like the guy. I want to like the beer. He's a pro-business republican. It's a locally made beer in the style that I drink a lot of. But he can't see that what's good for his company is good for the country (gay rights). And nobody beats the King of Beers.

Congress: Roland Chicas, the Republican. There was no libertarian. I had never seen or heard Mr. Chicas' name before I entered the booth. Diana DeGette is a terrible person. I wish I was represented by Tancredo. She'll win, but I'll still hate her. She's dumber than Barbara Boxer and very much in that same vein.

The Judges: I voted to retain all of the judges. I just figure that it's cheaper to keep 'em than to train new ones.

FastTracks: I voted to increase my taxes. Denver needs to keep expanding our public transit system. It would continue to expand without this referendum but not nearly as quickly. I don't buy the argument that, since, in aggregate, only 2% of people currently use public transit, that expanding the system is a cost borne unfairly by the other 98%. I can tell from the drastic numbers that they are using bullshit definition for uses, pays the tax, and benefits from. You either win because the system is better and more expansive and you can travel to more places more efficiently, or you benefit because there is an expansive public transportation system that keeps the poor people who can't afford SUV's off the front range freeways.

Cigarette Tax: Voted for it. I'm sort of against this from a free market standpoint, but I'm sort of for it from a disgusting-filthy-habit standpoint. I smoked for a lot of years, and when bars started charging three bucks for a pack, I knew that I was in trouble. There's no benefit to it. Sure there are other legal and perhaps even illegal vices that I can support, but all of those at least offer a relaxation benefit. The only way you get any benefit from ciggys is when you're trying to kill a craving that only comes from smoking ciggys. Fuck the smokers. Sorry.

Museum and Culture Tax: Voted to cancel it. This thing is going to pass with my sole dissenting vote. If it were close, I would have had to have thought about the issue a lot more thoroughly. What is the community's responsibility to support the cultural vendors in the city? Interesting.

At Large Regent for the University of Colorado: Daniel Ong, some libertarian. Whatever. Why am I voting for a school position? What is a regent? Don't answer. I don't actually care.

Renewable Energy Mandate: I voted against this one. I'm all for renewable energy, but the technology and market share will grow most rapidly in a freemarket environment - not when government mandated. I think that this one could only cost the end user (i.e., the voter) more money. I read both sides on this one, and frankly, big business sounds a whole lot more credible (and green) than the Greens.

Construction Liability: Everyone is voting against this. The smear campaign against the vile lawyer pig who put this on the ballot has been very effective. It convinced me.

Splitting the Electoral Vote: I voted against this one. I think there's a very strong argument that it is unconstitutional anyway (as a voter initiative). It's a bad idea. No one would ever get more than a one vote advantage out of Colorado. It will not somehow get enough electoral votes to a third party candidate such that the winner of the election will be forced to include a third party candidate in his administration and then the Green party will finally get dominion over the trees or whatever. The pros on this one have just started running ads on this issue. The ads are very good. The people they are targeting are folks who are uneducated about the political process. The ads way over-simplify everything and make it look like a dandy idea. It is not.

Obsolete provisions: I always vote against removing these. I like obsolete provisions. I have no problem if somewhere in the Colorado constitution it tells me I can't race my horse and buggy except between 30 minutes before sunrise until 30 minutes after sunset between August 28 and March 31st. Whatever. That's cool. I won't.

State Personnel System: I didn't understand or hear anything about this one. It seemed to have something to do with when city cops could be forced to testify. I should have talked to Brian. He would have set me straight. Since I didn't understand it, I voted to keep things as they are.

State Representative: Rick Nevin, the Republican. The current guy, Jerry Frangas, is a friend of the homeowner's association, and I hear he's a nice guy. This barrio I live in is plenty democratic anyway. I just wanted to try to show that this neighborhood is not hopelessly democratic. Heck, I may want to run here in district 4 at some point in the future if it ever looks like there's enough of a anything-but-democrat base. Leave a comment if you live in District 4 and would consider voting for me at some point in the future. Thank you. I am humbled by your consideration.

Jonathan 10/21/2004 09:56:00 PM