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I’d say vote or die but that’s too trite. Do the country a favor and vote. I’d prefer Libertarian but at least get out there and get involved, no matter your party.
Thanks.

Apologies to the For Dummies folks. Mynn suggested the title.

Along with her suggestions, I’ve pulled information from fivethirtyeight and Wikipedia.

Nearly every state and the District of Columbia are winner-take-all states: the candidate that wins the state wins all of their electors. Maine and Nebraska, use a tiered system where a single elector is chosen within each Congressional district and two electors are chosen by statewide popular vote. If you’re in Maine or Nebraska, your vote matters insofar as your district’s elector. You’ll have to find local data for yourself.

Now for the “Am I Super-Red or Super-Blue” vote, or “Where won’t I ‘hurt’ the national election?” states. The important states according to fivethirtyeight.com are “Tipping point” states; states that are decisive in a close election for a given percentage of simulations, the most “swinging” of swing states, which are as follows:
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I don’t do this often, but for once, I can’t keep my mouth shut.

Most of us live in solidly red or solidly blue states. For example, I live in New Jersey. It’s going blue in November, thanks to Newark, Trenton and Camden. My vote is effectively canceled out by our good Democratic friends in the big cities, so in the end, it statistically doesn’t matter who I vote for in this state. Its electoral votes will go to Obama.

Admittedly because I believe most of the ideals of the Libertarian party, I’m voting for Bob Barr anyway. You’ve probably seen him on The Colbert Report. He’s the most prominent 3rd party candidate.

Problem is, we have a LOT of “third parties” around here, mostly because they don’t get enough airtime, and they’re not included in the nationally televised Presidential Debates. Why not? Because they specifically exclude any candidate from the debate unless they meet the following criteria:

1. They’re eligble under the Constitution to be president. That’s OK, they should be.
2. They have ballot access in enough states to mathematically win the presidency via the Electoral College. That’s OK, too.
3. They have to poll at a minimum of 15% nationally.

Now how do they expect parties that AREN’T “red” or “blue” to poll 15% nationally if they don’t receive the same nationwide coverage for their candidates? We’re not kooks, you know. Matter of fact, Zogby International did a nationwide survey (also reported in the LA Times), and guess what? 69% of unaffiliated Independent voters (meaning not registered as any one party) are in favor of allowing Bob Barr into the debates. And the younger the voter, the more likely they were to want to hear another opinion. Naturally, only 39% of surveyed Democrats and 41% of surveyed Republicans were in favor. Overall, 55% said they wanted a third voice in the debates.

It’s a loaded system set up in favor of the Democrats and the Republicans. How do we fix it?

We all drop the idea of being “spoilers” or saying “my vote doesn’t count” or anything like that. We come together and realize the only way we can effect any change is to get behind something and push. The last time that happened, Ross Perot got into the debates. And he opened everything up, and the reds and the blues got scared.

Then in 2000 they added the “15% polling” clause into the debate requirements. They were scared of Ralph Nader that time. He was the first “big” third party candidate since Perot, and they didn’t want their precious boat rocked.

Every vote counts. Right now, the Libertarian party is polling at 3% according to CNN and 6% according toZogby. Once a third party, ANY third party, reaches 15%, they don’t just get access to the debates. They could even get access to federal matching funds, which you receive by getting 5% or more of the popular vote in a previous election. 15% in opinion polls and 5% in popular vote, and then you can finally see and hear change that would ACTUALLY make a difference in this country.

Red state? Blue state? If your state’s not “in play,” help the country out.

Your vote counts.

Vote for real change. Vote Libertarian.

Jesus God…Why doesn’t someone want to talk about it!…Is it because we’re having so much fun at home we’ve forgotten the world? Is it because we’re so rich and the rest of the world’s so poor and we don’t care if they are? I’ve heard rumors; the world is starving, but we’re well-fed. Is it true, the world works hard and we play? Is that why we’re hated so much? I’ve heard the rumors about hate, too, once in a long while, over the years. Do you know why? I don’t, that’s sure!

Guy Montag
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

So in case the few people who read my site don’t know, New Jersey’s in a massive budgetary crunch. Governor Jon Corzine, who is technically my boss, has decided he needs to close nine state parks to save a whopping $4.5 million dollars out of his $38 billion state budget.

It’s a whopping 0.011% of the state budget.

In comparison, in recent years, Corzine and cronies have pushed through borrowing $270 million dollars for stem cell research, amongst the myriad things like legislators double-dipping on their jobs, double-dipping their pensions and generally screwing we rank-and-file state employees by not funding our pensions.

Why is he doing this? We, as a population, said NO to his proposed toll hikes, which were rightfully exposed as a regressive tax on the middle class of this state. In a punitive measure, he has now declared he’s cutting state parks, cutting aid to public hospitals $108 million (0.28% of the state budget), cutting aid to state universities $76 million (0.2%), and eliminating the state Department of Agriculture to save $4 million (0.1%).

In several fell swoops of his ego, Corzine proposes cutting the poor and middle class out of this state entirely, and we who live here will eventually have no other choice but to move out and leave the rich and the party bosses alone in the mess they’ve created.

Corzine. Out. Now.