About
Most politicos blame money for buying elections.
They are lying to you.
The money is always there, but you don’t have to take it. Blaming money for how politicians act during campaigns is like blaming testosterone for rape: “Gee, your honor, if I didn’t have all this testosterone running through me, I wouldn’t have a need to rape someone!” No, you don’t rape someone because it’s wrong to violate someone else, to aggress against them for your own satisfaction.
Slimeballs act poorly, and I don’t know a single major political candidate who doesn’t act poorly. Make these bastards exercise a little personal control.
In Florida, go here: Candidate Tracking System. Then choose:
Election Year: 2006 General Election
Office: All
Status: Qualified
County: [pick your county]
Candidate Last Name: [leave blank]
Then click the “Submit Query” button.
There you’ll find a list of candidates suited to your area.
Not sure which district you’re in? Go here: District Map. Don’t let it fool you, it says it’s for the Senate, but if you use the search box on the bottom left that says “Find Your Legislators” and put in your Zip+4 Code, you’ll get all the district numbers you need.
Do a little research. I know, it’s late in the game to give this info, but better late than never, right?
For the candidates that came up that I knew nothing about, I simply copied the name and put it into Google, tacking on an “FL” at the end, maybe putting the full name in quotes. Usually the pertinent info will come up. The more unique the name, the easier it is to find.
So I find the candidate’s website, check out the position points (which are usually on the home page) and see if they match with my point of view (or as close to it as possible). None of the major party candidates satisfy my point of view of how our government should be run, so I search for a candidate that has a Libertarian bent (less taxes, fewer services, less government in general), but I have to weed out the whackos with agendas to “get people” or who think in utopian terms. I’m looking for someone with a mature attitude, a solid philosophy of how to make decisions if elected and facing legislation, and no alarmist talk (i.e. vote for me or the other people will fuck us all up).
Okay, so this morphed from campaign finance reform into how to find the people running in the election and who I look for to vote. Hey, it’s a blog, it’s my opinion, and if you didn’t want me to blog all over your lap then you wouldn’t have stayed to read this.
Sorry about the mess. I’ll get the dry cleaning bill.
This is very cool. Performancing Firefox is an excellent tool for bloggers. I saw a link to it first on Daily Pundit in September 2006, maybe earlier, not sure; I checked it out, started using it, and I’ve never looked back.
Just a sweet, sweet tool.
