THIRD PARTIES--?!?!?!
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Thanks to all who posted...overall, they were thoughtful responses. Extra credit to Dan and Brianna for being first to post from their classes. Carrie and Jim grabbed extra credit with the Newsweek article.
Since there was so much buzz about third party voting, i thought we could dig a little deeper into that idea after running across an interesting op-ed piece by Sandy Froman discouraging third-party voting this year. She is writing to support 2nd -Amendment rights but her arguments apply to traditional marriage, sanctity of life, and other Christian issues. (WorldNetDaily.com is a pretty cool site in general...)
On the other side is a good article by Aaron Biterman titled The Myth of the Wasted Vote, encouraging everyone to vote their conscience, period. This article comes from a Libertarian perspective, but the principles apply to every political persuasion.
So, read both articles, make up your mind, and post your thoughts about voting third party this year. Keep up the good work, keep being respectful, and don't be intimidated if others disagree.
This time i will grade your responses. A thoughtful response (like most of yours last week) will get an A. This is the last blog till after mid-terms BUT i might upload an extra-credit post next week. (If i do, it will count for the 2nd quarter.)
Blessings! :)
Since there was so much buzz about third party voting, i thought we could dig a little deeper into that idea after running across an interesting op-ed piece by Sandy Froman discouraging third-party voting this year. She is writing to support 2nd -Amendment rights but her arguments apply to traditional marriage, sanctity of life, and other Christian issues. (WorldNetDaily.com is a pretty cool site in general...)
On the other side is a good article by Aaron Biterman titled The Myth of the Wasted Vote, encouraging everyone to vote their conscience, period. This article comes from a Libertarian perspective, but the principles apply to every political persuasion.
So, read both articles, make up your mind, and post your thoughts about voting third party this year. Keep up the good work, keep being respectful, and don't be intimidated if others disagree.
This time i will grade your responses. A thoughtful response (like most of yours last week) will get an A. This is the last blog till after mid-terms BUT i might upload an extra-credit post next week. (If i do, it will count for the 2nd quarter.)
Blessings! :)
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1. Hey guys! Right now I'm waiting for my Dad's teachers meeting to end... grrr. Both these people DO make you think more about how you vote. Sandy Froman talked about the appointment of supreme court justices, But lets think about say Guiliani being elected. Now to appoint a judge the house of representatives and senate must both approve of the candidate... so if republicans win back the house of representatives AND the senate then Guiliani will easily get conservatives in court, IF he's true to his word and his word may not be that trustworthy due to his liberal views, Anyway moving on if the house of representatives OR the senate has a democrat majority then Rudy will simply have to make compromises (think of a few of our judges that got there by a compromise... any of them conservatives? pretty sure not) NOW LETS FLIP IT lets say a democrat is president if BOTH the house of representatives AND the senate have a Democrat majority THEN our country will go into chaos as liberal justices are appointed... But lets look at the polls, the democrats have let the houses become lower than Bush in approval ratings... I personally don't see why republicans can't at least win back the majority in one of the houses, they are a minority in the senate by a very small amount (one person (not counting lieberman for the democrats)) me personally my feeling is no matter who becomes president next there's a good chance there will be compromise in appointing judges OF COARSE i should also add we don't know how many, or which judges will retire in that term if ANY! Also whatever other evils the democrats make in laws can be undone by later presidents... I personally stick to the third party vote (I'm WAY past 200 so I don't need to repeat what I said in the last blog) LETS MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE LONG RUN!!!!
Posted by Jimmy — Jan 10, 2008 17:20
i think i would still have to day that i would vote for a third party member if what they where doing and saying went with what i believed. I would not vote for a democrat or republican just so i would not have to vote for a third party member if i did not agree what they where doing. So again i would have to agree with jimmy and say that it is possible for the republicans to get a majority in a part of the government and have there say and we also do not know if anyone from the supreme court will retire even if they do we do not know who will fill there spots and even if i voted third party it isent really wasting my vote.And i believe what Aaron Biterman wrote when he said that if we vote for a republican or democrate who we dont agree with we are still giving them out vote and helping them. So i would have to say i would stick with my third party vote if i had to.
Posted by carrie — Jan 10, 2008 21:06
8)
Posted by Mr. Peabody — Jan 14, 2008 15:16
Well...in my reading of both of these articles, it seems that by voting for a third party, you really are almost voting for a democrat. When someone votes for a third party, that is one less vote for either republicans or democrats...but it seems that more and more conservatives are voting for a third party candidate and my doing so, giving one less vote to the republican side. This is a confusing decision. I would indeed vote with my conscience...but i personally, though there are problems with both the republican and democratic sides, tend to agree more with republicans...and if voting for a third party would increase the chance of putting someone in office that i was definetly against, i would vote for the party that i agreed more with. Of course there are always going to be things that we dont agree with...but we have to look at the big picture. This is America people...and as Christians we see many problems...but we should vote for the person who run America who would run America in the best direction. I think that if someone really does agree and wants to vote for a third party candidate, there is no problem there...Thats your business. but if someone votes for the third party candidate just because they cant make up their mind...for shame! Lets think this through. So...from what i have read so far, i would probably not vote for the third party...unless i just really felt that it was the right thing to do. I dont even know if that answered this question... ha.
Posted by Brianna — Jan 14, 2008 20:52
Ok. here we go, after reading the comments and the 2 articles on the 3rd party issue. Though all of the comments had there similarities I would have to agree the most with brianna's. Even though some people may consider that the 3rd party as just a waste of votes. I would disagree with them. I think that you should vote for the person that you feel would be the best person for the job regardless of there party. Well I guess thats about all.
Posted by Gregory — Jan 14, 2008 21:44
sup dogs!? ( great insite gregy, u should be a journalist). um well i can deffinitly see where both side of this is coming from. the third party voters side is, u shouldnt vote for a person who doesnt have good morals, so u dont want to support them. well i personaly would not put my vote to third party because even though mabe both the candidates are evil and have bad morals that i dont agree with, voting for a third party would just be throughing my vote away because a dem or rep are goin to win the election anyway so i just think u should vote for the less of the two evils. so i would vote for the Dem or Rep candidate who is closer to my morals and pray that he wont mess this country up any more than it is.
Posted by Daniel — Jan 14, 2008 23:02
Hey, There is no wasted vote our country was founded on the principal that all men are created equal as said in the declaration of independence. That means that even the opinion and vote of all people are equal also. Even thought one man cannot be the deciding vote of an election for president it is important to vote so your voice can be heard. If you vote for a third party candidate there is a chance they could win even thought it doesn't happen too often. A third party candidate as president could bring the changes needed to our country to set us back on course to how our nation was meant to be as seen in the eyes of our founding fathers. If more people didn't think it was a wasted vote we might not need the reform as we do in our political system. Let us not elect the lesser of two evils rather we should elect by our conscious and beliefs. Let us make the right choice not by popular demand but what is right through our beliefs no matter what party it may be Democrat, Republican, or Third party.
Posted by Abe — Jan 14, 2008 23:15
:)
Posted by PoliticalLackey — Jan 14, 2008 23:58
In 1994, Bill Clinton won the Presidency over Bob Dole, a Republican, and Ross Perot, an Independent. It is believed in some circles that those who voted for Ross Perot drew votes away from Bob Dole rather than Bill Clinton, possibly costing Dole the election. Additionally, that year both houses of Congress were taken by the Republican party which with a Republican president would have led the way for Republican control of the Executive and Legislative branches of government. Does this change your mind on your opinion of voting third party?
Posted by PoliticalLackey — Jan 15, 2008 00:07
Way cool - this is good and thoughtful stuff. Keep it up! Look for an optional extra credit post Thursday or Friday... ;)
Posted by Mr D — Jan 15, 2008 01:16
wow, this is a hard one.i like what the guy said about voting your conscience and making a statement and all that, also what he said about voting for the lesser of two evils, if evil still wins. however, i would have to side with the lady, because by voting for the 3rd party candidate, it would give the democrat candidate enough votes to win. I also have to agree with her view on the second ammendment issue. as american citizens, we have the right to bear arms, and it the supreme court ( judges appointed by new president and all) decides to ban guns, that is clearly depriving us of our rights. not only that, but it the second ammendment is overruled, there is no way of telling how out of control this can get and how unmeaningful the constitution will be. The constitution can get ammended and overruled until there is no order left. i think it is a dangerous place to be, so overall, maybe voting for the lesser of two evils is the right decision.
Posted by "Blondie" — Jan 16, 2008 07:10
well hola peps .... I read both articles and im not sure wht to think on one hand u have a 3rd party can.that can give the opposein party all the power ... but as i learn more and more abt the canidates from both sides it seems that none fit my moral perfectly so am i going to just giv eup and let some 3rd party guy get the vote and hand it to someone else ..... so icant really vote base on my moral and 3rd party votes r kinda a cop out in the long run i think it will take a lot of prayer and maybe even fasting
Posted by #23 — Jan 16, 2008 21:36