America Is Too Damned Divided

[rabid1st]

Of course, all of the Romney crew believe they shouldn't conceded because they poured so much effort into winning this thing. They hammered us with negative ads. They tampered with voters. They lied in a way that is so far out there it didn't even touch reality with a wingtip.

And here, I must say, Obama lied, too. And there are general beliefs, like the one about the President controlling gas prices, that are nationally institutionalized lies. Or the other one about Social Security being bankrupt. As if, we couldn't just raise the minimums and fund that sucker. But the histrionics about Obama were so outlandish, they defied credulity. He is not a socialist or a communist or taking away our guns or raising anyone's taxes. Nor is he responsible in any way for the 2008 financial collapse. It happened before Obama took office and was caused by deregulation, not too much regulation. These are not opinions that can be spun, they are objective facts. And facts do exist, beyond political party affiliation.

Romney gave a very graceful concession speech. I think he's glad it is over, as am I. Had the Republicans focused on real issues instead of manufacturing nonsense, they might have won this one. It was that close. I, for one, was so ambivalent about Obama's first term that a moderately cordial and truthful campaign from Romney might have kept me home. But instead his team went for outrageous blaming and flip-flopping. It drove me out to vote early. Most of all it was the voter tampering, the ID laws, the changing of polling times and the open threats to women that motivated me. And the Republican Party refusing to take any responsibility for the blocking of so many laws that would have helped our economy. One of the things I know, as a librarian, is how to find the actual laws and read them. Again, they are not something that you need to debate. They are published and say what they say and we know who voted for and against those laws. My advice to everyone is to stop listening to ads and pundits and start looking up the actual voting records of people running for office.

Comments

Have they called the election?

[sivonni.livejournal.com]

My parents work the polls and they just got home. The ballots have not been counted yet. There are far more absentee ballots than ever before and tons of Sandy victims whose votes haven't been counted and won't be for perhaps weeks. Electoral college maps are showing both candidates are at least 20 votes away from having enough electoral college votes to win. I'm curious where the information is coming from that President Obama has won? I've seen news reports that it's being "projected" that he's won. Are we going to be looking at another situation where the election is called and then we have to recount the entire Northeastern seaboard in two weeks?

Re: Have they called the election?

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

They call these things on math. For example, in Ohio, the county that hasn't been counted completely is going Obama by 68%, so it is assumed that it would be highly unlikely that trend will change. And the Electoral College still decides these things, so the areas that are behind in actual vote count won't change the percentages.The places that are not counted now, are leaning strongly Obama.

Obama has won. Romney has conceded.

I doubt there will be a recount, because Romney appears to have rejected contesting the vote.

Re: Have they called the election?

[sivonni.livejournal.com]

So the fact that our ballots have yet to be counted doesn't matter? Who decides what they electoral college votes? Do they decide for themselves? It seems weird that one candidate wins the popular election and the other wins the votes.

[thisficklemob.livejournal.com]

Obama seems to be winning both at this point.

Re: Have they called the election?

[np-complete.livejournal.com]

Somebody, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the Electoral College can vote for who they want. Some states have laws requiring electors to vote for the candidates who won the popular vote, but it's not a federal crime if they don't. It's happened twice in recent memory (again, correct me, but I believe in one election one guy made a mistake and in another someone refused to cast a ballot in protest of DC not having representation in Congress.)

It is very weird and it led to such disasters as the 2000 election, where Gore won the popular vote and lost the electoral college vote.

But "calling" a state comes down to math: if the lead of one candidate is greater than the number of uncounted votes, there's no way the other candidate can win. True, it's sometimes done prematurely, but by this time in the evening they're pretty sure.

Re: Have they called the election?

[sivonni.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to explain the situation to a teenager who says that there's no reason to vote since our ballots don't matter.

[thisficklemob.livejournal.com]

The electoral college can be dispiriting, especially if you're not in a swing state.

But, within a state, let's say, East Kansafornia... if it would require Candidate X to win 80% of the remaining votes in district 16.5 in order to win...

but the people in that district vote 50-50 for candidates from either party, so the votes will probably be split evenly between Candidate X and Candidate Y...

then we can know that unless something ASTRONOMICALLY UNLIKELY happens, that Candidate X is not going to win district 16.5.

They will count those votes, just to be sure that hasn't happened, but... they can be pretty sure.

[sivonni.livejournal.com]

Okay. That helps. Thanks for the explanation. I'm sure I heard this in the 8th grade but that was many moons ago.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Glad that was clearer for you. And for your teenager...a single vote might not matter one way or the other. But then again, we don't know until everything is counted. A small margin could matter very much in a campaign that is very close. We are never just single votes when we vote.

So, it is important to go out and vote for what you believe because...let's say 450 people decide their single votes don't matter...then it is 450 votes not one. Each person should be counted, but not every vote needs to be counted to know how the race is leaning.

That doesn't mean that the voters who lost wasted their vote, they were part of the greater whole. A wholehearted opposition actually impacts the overall agenda of the winner. In this case, Obama doesn't have a clear mandate from the people for his Presidency. Many people turned out to say they didn't like his policies (or the state of the nation). That impacts policies. So, tell your teenager the losing votes still count for democracy.

[sivonni.livejournal.com]

Thanks for responding. My teenaged friend's response was basically "that sucks", but he's sixteen and that's his response to a lot of things.

His family are very conservative as is much of the area where we live and usually votes the complete opposite of the rest of our state. Much of California is not just liberal but LIBERAL and have a very different agenda that one that addresses the issues of a mainly agricultural area.

Oddly the entertainment industry money men are not nearly as liberal as those in front of the camera and some of them are yanking their money after this election. My cousin is an agent/producer in Hollywood and three of his investors have already pulled out of projects because President Obama was re-elected.

Thanks again for your response. Even if he doesn't care, it helps to have another perspective and other words to explain something we've been over before.

Re: Have they called the election?

[np-complete.livejournal.com]

Well, there are local elections, which can make a lot of difference to quality of life. For example, in my county a few years ago, one candidate ran on a platform that included a 9 or 10 pm curfew for teenagers.

[lostrack621.livejournal.com]

I was just going to say that regardless of the national election, voting on local issues is very important because they aren't linked to parties. For example, I live in AZ and because its a Repub state, my Obama vote "didn't matter" to the Electoral College BUT my vote will hopefully help some of the educational propositions and bonds to succeed and help the schools here...

[np-complete.livejournal.com]

Of course, concession isn't irrevocable, as we remember from 2000. But it doesn't appear to be so close that one state can make the difference, unless it were California.