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Western Chauvinist’s Easy Two-Step Voting Guide
On Candidates:
Vote straight Republican. Democrats cannot be trusted not to abuse the authority of dog catcher. We don’t want Democrats to have power over us or our dogs.
On Ballot Issues:
Vote “yes” on anything that empowers the people and “no” on anything that empowers the state.
Easy-peasy.
You’re welcome.
Published in General
I always vote NO on bond issues, out of general crabbiness: why are they asking me to make this decision? That’s what we pay them for.
I often tell my few remaining acquaintances and relatives-with-whom-I-am-on-speaking-terms in the D camp that I voted for a Kennedy Democrat twice: His name was George W. Bush.
I would have done that too, also considering that he’d have a less influential place in the senate than her seniority gives her.
I always vote straight Republican, so that part is already taken care of. We have two local initiatives.
The first is a vote to continue an additional one percent sales tax for capital projects. I have voted against it every time, because we can’t take care of the things we’ve already built, so why build more stuff? Also, the added tax was sold in what I believe was a sleazy and misleading fashion (“It’s only a penny.”) Yeah, a penny on top of the other seven per dollar you get.
The second is to change the state constitution to allow the governor to appoint the state school superintendant instead of being elected. I am in favor of this, because a lousy super can be booted and replaced any time, but an elected official stays in office until the next election, meaning a lousy super can continue to break things until replaced at the polls.
In California there is only one good choice on election day – leave. Same choice as every other day. The formerly Golden State is rapidly descending into a dystopian sewer. I mean it. Unless you are destitute or an illegal alien, get out.
One can’t look at the candidates as individuals. If they’re Democrats they’re collectivist, part of the mob and if not will be disciplined until they are. We can walk back from corrupt Republicans, get enough Democrats for long enough and we won’t be able to. Chauvinists rule is dead on, except one must remember if it’s a Democrat promising a weaker state, more power to the people, it’s a lie.
I always vote NO on bond issues and budget overrides. General principles and general crabbiness.
If that is the case, then I either write in a Republican, or leave that office blank I will not vote for anyone who will automatically implement the left’s issues. It is not personal, it is an existential threat, shared by any D at all.
Hi Bob,
I am voting for Republicans in Arizona who did not run as the “Trump” Candidate in the Republican Primary.
For Governor, Doug Ducey’s opponent ran as the Trumpy candidate. Ducey won. I am voting for him.
For Secretary of State, Steve Gaynor ran as the Trump Candidate, and he won. I am voting for the Democrat, a relatively reasonable Katie Hobbs.
For Senate, Martha McSally was the least Trumpy Candidate in the Primary and she won. I am voting for her.
For the House of Representatives, Republican Wendy Rogers ran as the Trump Candidate in the Primary and she won. I am voting for the Democrat, who served 8 years in the Arizona Legislature as a Republican until he was primaried.
For the Arizona Legislature, our Republican candidates brought in Steve Bannon. Are you kidding me? I am voting for the Democrats.
I am voting for Non-Trumpy Republicans, because I am a Reagan Republican.
Gary
You’re a Bush Republican.
I am a Reagan Republican. I actually voted for the Libertarian in 1992 because I felt that George H.W. Bush had betrayed the Reagan Revolution. (In retrospect, that was a huge mistake, as it gave us Clinton.)
Easier said than done, given that essentially all leftist-sponsored initiatives and referendums are deceptively named, summarized, and worded.
My simple choice was to look up the recommendations of the nearest big city newspaper and do the opposite.
But have you learned from it?
It does not appear so.
Good advice. Except… ballot measures are worded purposely to confuse. If that happens, vote NO. In my area at least 14 judges were up for re election. These are local judges. I have no idea who they are except that local politics is so Democrat dominated that many local state offices and city offices didn’t even have a Republican candidate. So I assumed all judges were Dems and voted No. I asked my wife how she did it. Normally we discuss these things beforehand, but not this time. We did manage to cancel each other out on some local issues. That was fine, we got the big stuff correct. Both of us voted for Hawley against McCaskill.
Which of these is not like the others: Trump, Romney, McCain, Bush II, Dole, Bush I, Reagan and Ford?
ETTD.
That’s easy. Trump and Reagan.
I cannot imagine two people more opposite from each other.
Reagan was the Greatest President of the Twentieth Century. Trump is the worst Republican Presidential Nominee, let alone President in history.
Reagan was an optimist who was inclusive and positive. Trump is divisive and negative.
Reagan earned his money honestly, Trump is a con man who cheated vendors and people who signed up for Trump University.
Reagan was confident in himself. Trump was the emotional stability of a 13 year old girl.
Reagan helped usher out the John Birchers, Anti-Semities, and racists. Trump appeared on Alex Jones, and is an overt racialist.
Reagan and Trump are polar opposites.
I’ve been doing this for a number of years too. I don’t know much about the judges, but figure, throw them out.
That is generally good advice. Arizona has “merit selection” of Judges, where Judges run for “retention.” Only 2 Judges out of nearly 1,000 races were not retained. When in doubt, vote to not retain judges.
I used to vote to throw judges out, but I’m glad I quit doing that a few election cycles ago. I might have voted to throw out Neil Gorsuch!!
I used to know of a national (conservative) organization that evaluated judges and made recommendations, but I can’t remember it. Anyone know?
You obviously haven’t learned from your mistake. Nothing good comes from voting for Non-Republicans in National elections.
When in doubt, vote “no”.
“When possible, vote ‘no’.”
If you can figure out which choice is “no”, given the opaque way they always word things.
“Should the state not spend money to not limit the expenditure of funds to study the effects of not spending money to derive this outcome?”
Gary, the fish are not biting today. I feel your pain.
We’ve got an interesting situation coming up here in the West Texas oil patch because of the state school funding equalization system. The explosion in oil-and-gas related valuations should have cut property taxes for the school district from 94 to about 45 cents per $100 in valuations. But instead they went up to $1.04 because the Texas Education Agency threatened schools that they would lose state funding if they didn’t have a tax rate of at least $1.04, so more money could go to Austin for equalization purposes.
They will let school districts keep more of their money … but only if they spend it on new infrastructure projects. And to shift the taxes over to pay for that, you’ve got to pass a bond issue, you can’t pay cash by taking some valuations money off the top and sending the rest to Austin. So the looming choice is going to be either pass a bond and keep some of the $$$ to spend locally, or don’t pass it and send the $$$ to be redistributed. There is no option to not to spend the $$$ somewhere and slash the tax rate, at least until the next session of the Legislature is over next Spring. (And sort of fortunately, the local high school is almost 70 years old, so at least you can justify some of the bond spending. But eventually, you end up replacing stuff that could be fixed up for far less money if you don’t want to send your money to other school districts.)
Apparently Colorado passed legislation to ban this sort of thing. The ballot language is pretty clear. However, it’s still a matter of understanding the ramifications that’s tricky. That’s why I have a rule of thumb to empower the people and disempower the state. Sometimes even that is hard to discern.
Obviously McCain, and he would tell you so.
Ford. Became president without being elected.
The pols and activists want revenue and corresponding spending that is immune to interference from future politicians. Politicians rewarding unions with juicy pensions is the same phenomenon — a future politician gets stuck with the bill. It’s an admission that the spending/benefit/whatever would not be judged kindly by future voters, and should therefore not be judged kindly by current voters.