Vote Blue
October 28, 2014
For the past four years, the House GOP has wasted taxpayer money with frivolous votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the GOP-created legislation which has resulted in millions more Americans getting access to health care. GOP legislators, in session less than half the year, call struggling minimum-wage workers who sometimes work three jobs to feed their families lazy.
While our infrastructure crumbles around us, we have seen no meaningful legislation from the 113th Congress. Republicans got elected by promising jobs, but they have only voted to restrict women's access to healthcare, impose Christian believes on the government in violation of the First Amendment, and shut down the government, costing taxpayers billions.
If you're not outraged by the behavior of elected officials who care more about impugning the Black, Democratic President than helping Americans recover from damage done by his White, Republican predecessor, you haven't been paying attention.
All 435 members of the House of Representatives, 33 of 100 Senators, and governors in 36 states are on the ballot. Voting out the Koch-brother-funded, Tea Party idiots would give us the opportunity to end obstruction, filibustering, and constant gridlock in Washington and see laws passed raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25, eliminating tax breaks for companies that send American jobs overseas, reforming campaign financing, and giving Veterans expanded access to health care, education, and job training, etc.
But, the combination of Koch-brother funded lies (they're paying for 44,000 advertisements in swing states alone), gerrymandering which has drawn ridiculously configured legislative districts to consolidate all left leaning voters in mostly right states, and voter suppression laws created solely to prevent the poor, people of color, students, and women from voting, could exacerbate the obstructionist House by creating a Senate that will waste time trying to impeach the president while stealing more from the American public.
If you don't want to see Social Security, highways, state parks, public schools, etc. privatized so billionaires can make more money, if you don't want to see income inequality continue to widen, if you don't want to see another ALEC shill willing to destroy the civil liberties of the many to further empower the 1 percent on the Supreme Court, you need to Vote Blue in November.
While I would very much like to see a progressive third party take hold in the U.S., the reality is that takes time and work. It's telling when you've never heard of any of the third party candidates on the ballot. We can't build a serious third party by only putting candidates for national and state-wide offices up for election. In order to run viable campaigns for national and state-wide offices, third-party candidates need to start the same way their Democratic and Republican opponents did: at the local level.
"The race for the United States Senate is going to be close -- in fact it's going to be so close that a handful of voters may decide who controls the Senate in Washington," admits one Republican supporter. "People of like-minds need to stick together so as to avoid the rise of a government that is in complete conflict with their values." He wrote those words to scare GOP voters into forking over money and getting to the polls for the midterm election.
But, unless your values are Tea Party ignorance and obstructionism, you must Vote Blue. If you don't vote, or you vote for Republicans or third party candidates, you are handing the United States government over to right wing nut jobs who can't spell, but are determined to take away your health care, your reproductive rights, your ability to earn more than slave wages, your weekends, your vacations, your home, and your retirement funds.
If you want to take our country back from the corporations, the 1 percent, the racists, misogynists, homo haters, trans attackers, and forced pregnancy movement proponents, please Vote Blue next week. If you don't, you will empower those who want to make sure you never get a chance to vote again.
Also on the Ballot
In addition to the lies generated by and on behalf of candidates, supporters of amendments on the ballot in a number of states are spewing forth deliberate falsehoods and misinformation about legislation that will cause even more harm.
For example, several states are voting on "personhood" amendments, but since the majority of voters do not support "personhood" these are worded to prevent voters in those states from figuring out that's what's at stake. Forced pregnancy movement proponents frame their campaign around stories of pregnant women killed by guns or in auto accidents whose fetuses were destroyed as well. The fact that these laws could make abortion and many forms of contraceptive illegal is conveniently never mentioned.
And in Oregon two critical amendments are getting misrepresented in the media and advertisements.
Opponents of Measure 92 -- which would require labeling of foods containing GMO -- claim it will cost consumers money. In reality, the labeling will cost very little, about $2.30 per person per year. What could prove costly is if food manufacturers decide to eliminate GMO food from their products to avoid the labels. And, we're told if we want to avoid GMO foods, we can just buy organic.
The reality is there have been no scientific studies done to show whether GMO foods cause harm to humans. But, there is ample proof that they do result in harm to soil, song birds, bees, and water because of the increased used of chemical pesticides. Buying organic foods for individual households won't prevent the massive damage that Monsanto's pesticides used with its GMO seeds do to the environment and to small farmers.
Monsanto and DuPont are throwing millions of dollars against this Measure. They've gotten much of the state's media to agree with them. Given that those media are reaping big bucks in advertising dollars, their reasons for voting against Measure 92 are at best specious. Given the low cost of labeling, which would be added to the existing labeling requirements, you have to ask what Monsanto and DuPont stand to lose if we simply notify consumers what's in the food they eat.
If you vote in Oregon, vote YES on Measure 92
Proponents of Measure 90, creating a top-two open primary, claim this will give voters more choices. In reality, it will simply make it easier for corporate money to buy elections. Right now, the two-party primary system hurts the smaller third parties the most. When THEY say no, Measure 90 will make things worse, we should listen. Most telling about the impact of Measure 90 is who's signed on to oppose it including Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon, The Oregon Bus Project, Oregon League of Conservation Voters, the Pacific Green Party of Oregon, and the Oregon Progressive Party.
If you vote in Oregon, vote NO on Measure 90
Given the length of this post, I won't go into further details about additional measures on the Oregon ballot, except to urge you, if you vote in Oregon, to also vote YES on Measure 88 (drivers' cards for qualified Oregon residents) and vote YES on Measure 91 (legalizing recreational marijuana).