Yesterday, I wrote about the upcoming special election in Ohio’s 2nd congessional district. Democrat Paul Hackett is the underdog against right wing radical Republican Jean Schmidt for a seat in the US House of Representatives. This election, which will take place on August 2, is the first chance since the 2004 election for progressives to fight back against the Republican federal government. I made the point yesterday that Congress will never investigate the many crimes of the Bush Administration until Bush’s pliant Republican servants in the Congress are removed.
The thing is, Republican politicians are not the only obstable to taking back the Congress. The biggest obstacle that we face is the apathy of the Democratic rank and file. Sure, Democrats got all whipped up in 2004, especially after Michael Moore took the time to create a motivating movie, but since that time their passion has fizzled, and they seem to be taking more of an interest in American Idol than American politics.
A sign of that dangerous apathy comes from the preparations for this special election in Ohio. Although a good number of Democrats were running for their party’s nomination to run for this congressional seat, and at least one of the candidates was a very strong progressive, most Democrats in Ohio’s 2nd district didn’t seem to care. Only 3 percent of registered Democrats in Ohio’s 2nd district showed up to vote in the congressional primary this month. Think about that: 97 out of 100 Democrats in Southwestern Ohio stayed home, not even bothering to exercise their rightful say about who should run in their name for a seat in the United States Congress.
Democrats often complain that their party’s leadership controls everything, and they don’t have a real choice of candidates who reflect their progressive ideals. That’s often the case, but the reason for this problem is not some kind of dark conspiracy in the halls of power. The cause of the problem is simple and pathetic laziness.
If you want the Democratic Party to wrench itself out of the mealy-mouthed Republican-lite position it has held over the last four years, then you have to actually get yourself up off the couch for 30 minutes and vote when a primary comes along. If you don’t bother to vote for the candidates who support your positions, then you’re helping the effort to defeat those candidates, and you’re part of the problem.
These days, some progressives are stuck in a rutt of whining about how the Republicans are just too powerful to be defeated, and how the whole system is rigged, and so it doesn’t matter if you get out to vote anyway.
I can’t guarantee that if every progressive Democrat stopped moping and got back to work on the effort to reclaim the American traditions of liberty, we would succeed. I can, however, guarantee that if rank-and-file progressive Democrats don’t stop sulking and get back to the work of participating in politics again, we will be defeated.
If only 3 percent of registered Democrats show up again to vote on August 2, 2005, a very frightening right wing activist will be sent by Ohio to vote in the US House of Representatives. Right now, Paul Hackett is out on the streets, busting his butt to prevent that from happening.
It doesn’t matter whether you live in Ohio or not. You can get involved. You can sit back and mope and complain about how bad things are, or you can help Paul Hackett. The choice is yours. Will you be part of the active progressive 3 percent, or will you be part of the lazy 97 percent?
In the 2002 election, the 2nd dist. republican incumbent beat the democrat challanger 74% – 26%. Like the vast majority of districts in the US, thanks to gerrymandering by the two corporate owned parties, Ohio’s 2nd district is a “safe” seat. So what does it matter if Bank One owns the Democrat or Republican representative?
Well, gosh, Alan, it matters if the representative from the 2nd District is a Democrat because if the Democrats had a majority in the House, there would be active and truly independent investigations of evidence of crimes by the Bush Administration – crimes like defrauding Congress in order to go to war, and ignoring judicial orders, and using public money for political propaganda…
Also, Jean Schmidt, the Republican candidate, is promising to raise taxes for working Americans while lowering taxes for wealthy Americans. She also is part of the effort to place Ten Commandments monuments all over public lands across the country. She supported the war in Iraq, and Paul Hackett opposed it… on and on and on.
It very much matters who we have in Congress, and, in my opinion, your attitude that it doesn’t matter only serves the purposes of crass Republican politicians like Jean Schmidt.
The Democratic challenger might win if more rank and file Democrats actually took action instead of just complaining. The 2nd district is safe for Republicans because Democrats there have a habit of just not showing up to vote – when 97 percent stay home for an important primary election, that’s an indication that something is seriously wrong with the Democratic rank and file, and you can’t pin that problem on Bank one, Alan.
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Well, golly gee Clifford, I guess it’s all the fault of those darn apathetic voters who just won’t vote for your party because, well, um, you’re not republicans.
Yeah, it’s so much easier to blame them than the 2002 redistricting, engineered by the two corporate parties. So much easier than coming up with even a plausible reason why the unwashed masses should vote for your party in the first place, much less those lazy lazy rank and file members. After all, doesn’t everyone like imitation middle-of-the-road DLC republican-lite? Of course they do!
But that’s all beside the point. Absent another gerrymandered redistricting you do not have the numbers, even with a decent turnout and a low opposition turnout, in the 2nd district. And you can’t realistically expect to redraw districts mid-decade.
Alan, you show a remarkable ability to miss the point. I’m talking about people who have already chosen to register as Democrats, and not Republicans, not bothering to show up to vote.
These people aren’t willing to take part in their own party primary, whether or not they want a Republican-lite candidate. 3 percent is an abyssmal showing.
The issue of how to win in a Republican-majority district is separate, and must be dealt with after dealing with this problem.
First, a Democratic nominee needs to get Democratic voters. Then, the nominee can focus on cross-over voters.
Certainly Jean Schmidt is extreme enough to earn Paul Hackett many crossover voters from the Republican Party, but that’s not the point of this article.
I don’t mind saying that Democratic voters are lazy when only 3 percent of them show up for an election. In fact, I’m praising those 3 percent, and urging more voters to be like them. I hardly think we need to play around with “corporate parties” conspiracy theories when discussing a 3 percent voter turnout.
Sure, there’s plenty wrong with the Democratic leadership. I myself complain about it all the time. But, then, I vote in every election to do my part to turn the situation around.
These Democrats in Ohio’s 2nd district did not turn out to make the system better. 97 percent of them stayed home for the evening, and there’s no way you can lay all the blame on the party leadership or corporate conspiracies on that.
These folks had a wide range of candidates to vote for – it wasn’t as if all the decisions had already been made for them by party insiders. They had no excuse for not taking part in the decision-making process of the primary, except that they were apathetic and lazy.
You have to work with the district you’re given – for 10 years, until the census is redone. We ought not give any race over to the Republicans. Selfish resignation and fantasizing about total corporate control only increases voters’ feeling of powerlessness. I’m not playing that game. I’m involved in Irregular Times because I’m interested in encouraging informed citizen participation in government.
The existence of the Ohio 2nd blog, when aligned with Paul Hackett’s campaign, show that there are Democrats who care in the 2nd district. The key is to get more self-identified Democrats to get off their butts, stop whining, and get involved to give Mean Jean Schmidt a real run for her money instead of rolling over and playing dead.
Thanks for making me all those strawmen, J. But hey, if you want to live in some demobot fantasyland where you can change things by stumping for completely boughtout republicrats, fine by me.
All I’m saying is, typically 20% of voters turn out for special elections. That means, of the 456,795 registered voters in the 2nd district, around 91,353 are likely to show up. Given the distribution of Repulicans to Democrats, well over half of that will be voting for Schmidt.
As far as crossover voters go, your pro-war rethuglican-lite candidate might bring in some self-styled “moderate replublicans”, but certainly not enough for him to beat the Republican candidate. After all, why buy an imitation when you can buy the real thing.
In sum, you have the numbers to win in the 2nd distsrict. Shoot the messenger if you want – it dosn’t change a thing.
And frankly, considering the crap your party shovels for policy, I can’t blame democrat voters for staying away. Even the lowest blithering partisan hack knows if you constantly betray your constituencies interests, they’re eventually going to stop voting for you. Most people aren’t interested in supporting a party that represents corporate interest money over peoples votes.
Yeah, Alan, like the Republicans aren’t THE party of the corporate empire. You think this blunder in Iraq, Vietnam II, is policy? Your man has no plan! He’s failed by tanking domestic policy, alienating even our allies, and actually INCREASING the number of terrorists by his actions. So don’t go on about how great the Republican agenda is, okay?
Okay, Alan, this is where I have to launch in with a bit of anger. Paul Hackett is not and never was for the Iraq war. He opposed it, but when the war began, he decided that he would go in support of the other Americans that were going over there to fight. Now, that’s not a decision I would have made, but it doesn’t make the man pro-war. He opposed the idea of invading Iraq from the start and has kept that consistent position.
As for Paul Hackett being a “rethuglican-lite”, you need to check out your information. Have you bothered to check out the information on Paul Hackett’s web site, or are you just here to rant and encourage Democrats to stay away from the polls.
Paul Hackett is
- for protecting Social Security from Republican schemes to attack it
- for universal health care
- against the Gulf War
- for strong environmental protection from corporate polluters and opportunists
- against tax cuts to wealthy Americans and corporations while the tax burden for working Americans increases under the Republicans
- pro-choice
- against government support for corporate outsourcing
What the heck about that is “rethuglican-lite”, Alan?
Please get some information before you bother running your mouth off. You talk about the Democrats representing corporate interest money over peoples votes, while ignoring the fact that the whole point of this article that rank-and-file Democrats should not expect to have any control over their party if only 3 percent of them show up to a primary. You’re also ignoring the plain fact that Paul Hackett is running a campaign against the interests of the corporate elites. Facts like that just don’t seem to fit with your mope and whine mentality, so I guess you’ll just throw out the facts, huh?
On the odds of Paul Hackett’s victory:
Difficult, but not impossible, if Democrats turn out in strong numbers and point out the dangerous extremism of Jean Schmidt.
Absolutely, positively impossible, if Democrats turn out at the rate of 3 percent.
Even if Paul Hackett does not win, there’s some real opportunities in his campaign. For one thing, party loyalty in any district is not a static thing. When the Republicans run someone as over the top radical as Jean Schmidt, that can be a great opportunity for many Republicans in the district to reconsider their party affiliation. The facts about Jean Schmidts extremism will best come to light with a strong rival campaign that is well supported by a dedicated rival party.
Make the Republicans work for the seat, and they won’t be able to build up campaign coffers that will last for a generation. Let Republicans coast to victory, and they’ll control politics in the area for decades to come, with each election becoming less and less competitive.
The way to promote democracy is to participate in democracy, not to whine and moan about how it’s all a big set up. Votes are the currency. Money cannot buy them if people care enough to actually do the easy work of standing up and walking to the polls on Election Day.
Your political nihilism will bring about nothing positive, Alan.
Why exactly is someone coming here to criticise an article that implies everyone should vote?
20% turnout being normal or not, EVERYONE who can vote should. Eesh.
‘Sides, Alan; which policy DON’T you like? Any specific example or do you just like throwing out insults?
It’s not people like Sadam or Bin Laden who are making America less great, mate; it’s people an awful lot more like you.
And since the liberals seem to keep to the ideas of your founding fathers a lot more than the republicans, I’m guessing it’s not the liberals either.
Sorry to have interrupted the circlejerk with a cold bucket of facts. Crunch the numbers yourself. It’s not like I particularly care.
How you interpret Hackett’s “We have to stay in Iraq for years and years” message is up to you. Please don’t check out his website. Just keep thinking he is against the war and he magically will be!
And please be sure not to demand anything of “your” candidates either. That would be in bad taste! Just shut up and vote for whoever the chuckleheads at the DLC tell you to. No doubt blindly voting for corporate geeks will reform the (anti)democrat party in no time flat. After all, there are only two parties.
You know, Alan, the best way to “demand” something of a candidate is not to whine and complain to your friends that the candidate is not what you want him or her to be. It’s to get out and vote in the primary in which the candidate is chosen! That’s the point of the article! Can’t you get that?
There were Democratic options in this primary, including Hackett and Vic Wulsin. If people want to complain about who the nominee is, but didn’t even vote in the primary, then I don’t have a lot of sympathy for that.
I’d love for you to explain to me how having policies to stop rewards for corporate outsourcing makes Paul Hackett a “corporate geek”. How is promoting making corporations accountable for their pollution a “corporate geek” policy, Alan? You’re not paying attention to Paul Hackett’s actual policies, Alan.
There is no strong third party candidate in this race, so what would you have people do, Alan, sit at home and mope and let Jean Schmidt, who proposes a new slew of theocratic laws and wants to create a reverse-Robin-Hood tax structure, just waltz into office?
Your fatalism has no agenda but to just sit and do nothing. You claim that you have “facts” about an election that hasn’t even taken place yet! People make elections happen by acting, not by walking from the process and saying that the best thing is not to vote at all.
3 percent voter turnout creates the problem. It is not the solution, Alan.
…and if you don’t particularly care, then why are you bothering to comment? If you don’t particularly care, then why are you so against people voting? If you do really care about corporate influence over voting, as you seem to suggest, then why are you promoting the idea of people not doing anything about it other than sitting back and complaining?
Your proposal for inaction makes no sense.
Hey, I’m agreeing with you and your strawman arguements, J. Let’s just accuse anyone with a differing opinion of whining and complaining. That’s sure to work!
One absolutely cannot know anything about an election because there is just nothing to go on! There are no voting records from previous elections or demographics anything of the sort. So don’t look for them! Just shut up and vote!
And one should *definately* not try to vote for anyone outside of the two parties! Heaven forefend! Don’t even *try* to organize outside the democorporate party. Take J’s advice and just shut up and vote. That’s the way to influence a party . Vote Blind! Anybody But (fill in name)! Make No Demands!
Your proposal to uphold the status quo makes so much sense.
Hey, Alan; have you actually done ANY research into politics and the like?
Parties other than the known two or three DO NOT get voted in unless they are MADE known.
If you’re advertising another political party, you’re obviously doing a rather shitty job of it because all you’ve done so far is complain about one of the already known ones.
Alan,
Jean Schmidt is not a “strawman”. She is very, very real.
Extreme Democratic voter laziness and apathy is also no “strawman” to argue against. It’s a real problem, and one that your ideas encourage.
J,
Feel free to look up “strawman” in the dictionary of your choice.
Hare,
Good point! Remember, all you have to do is the least you can do; so vote the least-worst ticket!
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BTW, I’m glad to see your “anti-war” candidate is on board with the Bush administration. I’m sure he can “fight the war better” like Kerry and his DLC warprofiteer wannabes.
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Bush also resisted calls for him to set a timetable for the return of thousands of US troops deployed in Iraq, saying Iraqis must be able to defend their own country before US soldiers can be pulled out.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050618/ts_alt_afp/usiraqbushattacks_050618171549
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But in order for them to succeed, we must not withdraw our troops before the Iraqis are ready to stand on their own.
http://hackettforcongress.com/index.php?page=display&id=69
I know very well what a straw man argument is, Alan. My point is that the issues written about in this article are quite real.
Yes, in a democracy, you don’t ever get the chance to vote for a perfect candidate, unless you’re voting for yourself. You get the chance to vote for the better candidate. What kind of crazy world do you live in where you think it’s not worth voting unless you get to vote for a candidate who thinks exactly the way that you do? In a nation of around 290 million people, that’s just not going to happen.
You’re calling for citizen non-participation in democracy, Alan. I’m not setting up a straw man when I say that. I condemn that attitude because it is precisely what the Republicans are counting on – that their progressive opposition will stay at home.
Jean Schmidt or Paul Hackett? There is no question who I’d rather have in office.
There is a lot of room for debate about what the best exit strategy from Iraq is, and even pacifists can have an honest debate about whether the most peaceful decision is to withdraw immediately or to try to genuinely build peace from within Iraq.
You are the one building up a straw man to argue against when you fail to recognize these nuances. The fact is that Paul Hackett has always said that going to war was a mistake. He said so before, and he said so afterwards.
Jean Schmidt, on the other hand, has been a pro-war enthusiast for the war all the way. She also endorses a radical theocratic agenda for America, and you’re calling upon Americans to stand aside and let her in because you’re unwilling to see anyone vote for anybody but the perfect candidate who represents everything that they want in government.
Your abandonment of civic responsibility is dangerous. Paul Hackett is no liberal, but he is no Republican either. He is a common sense moderate who promotes a lot of programs that progressives can agree with, and respects the basic traditions of liberty and rational government upon which the best of America is founded.
You seem determined, more than anything else, Alan, to encourage Democrats not to go to the polls. That’s the kind of attitude I would expect from a Republican.
You’re also glossing over the point that this article called for greater participation in the PRIMARY. You attack the Democratic Party for what you don’t like about its candidates. But then, you criticize the idea that rank and file Democrats should actually show up and vote in the primary to determine who the candidates should be. You’re arguing both ways, and that leads me to think that you’re not really interested in the betterment of the Democratic Party at all. It seems to me that you’re more interested in taking it down.
That’s not the attitude of someone who’s interested in good government. That’s the attitude of someone who takes delight in political nihilism. If you’re not taking part in making it better, you’re taking part in making it worse. If you don’t vote in the primary, don’t complain about the candidate who wins the primary.
I’m not sure which of the above is more interesting, J. There’s so much to choose from:
-Your bizarre insistence that I’m some kind of rethuglican operative out to sabotage the democrat party by…well, posting messages on this site I guess.
-Your utter blindness when it comes to your own corporate prowar party. It’s a curious phenomena usually attributed to Republicans, the religiously demented and Star Trek fans.
-Your assignment of propositions to me that I have nowhere stated. For instance, the “you’re trying to stop people from voting” strawman which you’ve constructed out of a statement of sympathy (not direction) for registered democrats who, caught up in the 2nd most corrupt, useless party extant, didn’t bother to show up for some lame ass primary. Again, although they probably *should* have shown up just so they could spit in the face of the opportunistic hacks running their party, I don’t blame them a bit.
-Your odd spin about Hackett who, having once stated he was against the war somehow excuses his current prowar position. This doesn’t even pass the laugh test.
-Your glossing over any action at all outside the duopoly. (See partisan blindness above.)
I’d point out the obvious solutions but I’m sure you’ve got your “It’s too hard!” arguments all lined up. So please, by all means, vote for the least worst. It’s worked so well these last couple decades.
Jesus, Alan.
First of all, I’ll point out that you’re putting statements in quotes, attributing them to me, that I never made. You’re not only constructing a straw man out of me, you’re putting words in my mouth. You’re making a straw ventriloquist’s dummy man. Sorry, Alan. I speak back.
On the duopoly issue: Who is the credible declared 3rd party candidate in this district, Alan. Who??? There isn’t one. If there isn’t a declared 3rd party candidate, you can’t blame the Democrats and Republicans for the existence of a duopoly there.
You can insult the Democratic Party all you want, but you’re completely ignoring the content of this article in arguing with me on that point. One of the central points of this article is that Democratic Party progressives lose any credibility in complaining about the Democratic candidates who run for an office if they don’t bother showing up for the primary election in which the candidates are chosen.
You’re arguing against that point, which is, to me a ridiculous position. You say that I’m arguing unfairly when I accuse you of encouraging Democrats to not participate in the democratic process of deciding where their party will go. Then, a few sentences later, you say that when it comes to the 97 percent of Democrats who did not show up to vote in the primary for the nomination to this congressional seat, “I don’t blame them a bit.” You can’t have it both ways, Alan.
These people had some real choices in the candidates who were running for this office, including Vic Wulsin, who is a strong advocate for many progressive positions. You’re calling her an opportunistic hack, and saying you can’t blame Democrats for now showing up to vote for her. What kind of crazy universe do you live in, where wonderful Democratic candidates will be magically nominated to run for public office without rank and file Democrats actually showing up for a primary to vote for them???
A primary is not “lame ass”, Alan. A primary is the mechanism through which rank and file party members can dictate the course that their political party takes. You whine about the Democratic Party not being good enough, then you call the very process through which the Democratic Party can be improved, “lame ass”. Gee, where in the world could I come up with the idea that you’re trying to discourage Democrats from turning out to vote and participating in this special election?!?
I never expressed any “insistence” that you’re a Republican operative. I wrote:You seem determined, more than anything else, Alan, to encourage Democrats not to go to the polls. That’s the kind of attitude I would expect from a Republican.
My “odd spin” about Hackett is nothing of the sort. Hackett prominently opposed the invasion of Iraq before it happened, and he has maintained the position that the decision to go to war was wrong ever since.
You’re running way, way out on some kind of radical freaky limb, Alan. I suggest that you climb down and take a breath of fresh air.
“Just shut up and vote for whoever the chuckleheads at the DNC tell you to.”
Christ, I wish that was the case. I’ve been trying to increase the awareness of Paul Hackett’s campaign since he won the primary. I haven’t yet seen any evidence that the DNC or the “party bosses” have even heard of him. In the entire Democratic liberal activist world, there’s ONE election going on, and it’s in, for God’s sake, Ohio! Millions of people should be jumping on this campaign and donating megabucks. Where the f**k is everyone?
Rest assured that we’lll be following Paul Hackett’s campaign and providing more updates and links for ways to help the campaign. For what it’s worth, I’ve also made a donation of my own from the proceeds of our bumper sticker sales.
Oh, and Alan, that’s not a corporate donation. It’s grassroots support! Confound it, doesn’t that just defy your stereotypes of power? Or what, are you going to accuse us at Irregular Times of being corporate stooges too, Alan?
Again, a cornucopia of deliberate evasion, calculated misunderstanding and spin spin spin. (Oh well, I guess it’s back to sarcasm again. Here goes…)
Your oh-so-right again J. It’s just too radical to expect people, good “progressive” democrats, to do anything but the very very least they can do. The mighty Irregular Times blog will surely keep reminding them to support the status quo.
No doubt you’ll soon turn the tide by accusing everyone who doesn’t toe the party line of “whining”. In fact, use that word evey other sentence. That’ll work great. But whatever you do, do not be an agent of change! Remember, there are only Republicans and, well, the other Republicans.
So keep up your support for the war and against anything that might disturb the precious duopoly. Your prowar candidate is sure to win the 2nd district! His position on the war alone, so hugely different from the administrations, will surely give people a reason to turn out for him.
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NBachers,
The DNC knows very well there’s no point throwing money into a losing battle. The 2002 redistricting carved Ohio up into “safe” districts and the 2nd simply isn’t one of them.
As far as liberal activists go, they’ll generally support liberal candidates of any denomination. However, prowar candidates aren’t usually considered “liberal”. So I wouldn’t expect Code Pink or MoveOn to show up and stump for Hackett anytime soon.
Well, maybe MoveOn…
GET THE POINT ALAN!
There are currently TWO parties as options, and if you want to bring in a third that’s FINE, name one, I’m sure Irregular Times will be more than pleased to help so long as the party’s better than what’s up currently.
However, all because I think that my pet budgie would make a better world leader than what we’ve got now does NOT mean that voting for him will make a difference, because NO ONE ELSE WILL.
See? Votes don’t need inspiration, they need SUPPORT, they need MAJORITY, and voting for unheard of parties won’t do any good so long as they’re unheard of.
Understand?
Well *of course* voters don’t need inspiration! They should just vote for whatever hairball the DNC barfs up. Whoever’s “popular”. Stupid voters! Can’t they see that winning means *everything*! And, bygosh, it just doesn’t matter what the candidate stands for so long as they win win win!!!
A third party? Inconceivable!
It’s hard to think of what one might be, much less bother to find out about one. I guess it would be one of those “unheard of” parties that no one ever hears about ’cause, gosh darn it, it’s just too hard to hear about them. And even when you do hear about them you don’t hear about them ’cause it’s one of those things you never hear about!
Anyway, your right Hare. It’s just too hard. Might as well just shut up and vote.
You know, it’s a really bad sign that you’re now just resorting to sarcasm without making an argument, Alan.
I looked it up. J. Clifford is right. There is no third party candidate running in the special election. It’s Paul Hackett or Jean Schmidt. You’re making the ridiculous argument that Paul Hackett is not better than Jean Schmidt, and that voters ought to vote for a 3rd party candidate who does not even exist.
You’re appearing to grow increasingly bizarre Alan. Is that your purpose?
You’re right, Junga. Sarcasm isn’t working. The inability to see beyond a corrupt faux-two party system has defeated every attempt I’ve made. Yep, it’s become an exercise in futility to expect anyone here to think independently.
Not that it’s all that important, since it’s probably pointless to start organizing in the 2nd district anyway. With the overwhelming Rethuglican representation, and the Dems offering just another “me too!” candidate, it’s pretty silly of me to suggest people concerned with politics in the 2nd district actually do anything about it. After all, you can’t just start another party and run a candidate! 3rd parties, as has been made abudantly clear to me, cannot be heard and really don’t exist anyway. Best to go with the least worst and just not worry about it.
ALAN
Name ONE other option, okay? NAME one other option.
Unless you really expect us to attempt to all of a sudden build up a party from nothing this close to voting.
Alan, what exactly do you expect people to see, when they’re seeing “beyond a corrupt faux-two party system” when there is no alternative to the two parties in this particular campaign?!? There is no third party candidate!!!
Paul Hackett is hardly a “me too” candidate. Jean Schmidt seems to want to put Christian religion all over government, for example, and Paul Hackett, while personally religious, seems to respect the traditional boundaries between religion and government that Schmidt doesn’t give a damn about.
You seem pretty determined, Alan, not to want to consider that Hackett could be preferable to Schmidt. Can I ask: What is you political background??
Oh, I’m a paid operative of the Rethuglican Party Junga. Just like J has been trying to insinuate, I just got my check from Karl Rove to undermine Democrat blogs. And all I have to do is emphasis a few critical points:
1. People are politically helpless and cannot affect anything at the local level. They *cannot* organize outside the two party system. (And with dems running prowar candidates, whose worried about them?)
2. People can only vote for one of two parties. They cannot organize a third party or even a simple pressure group. So forget it!
3. If a third party candidate does not exit, it’s because they cannot win! So don’t even try! Just vote for one of the prowar candidates and go back to watching Survivor. Silly voter!
Simply making these three points will keep our corporate friends rolling in dough for as long as we can keep the war going! And, of course, I get paid. KA-ching!
Alan, you twit, Irregular Times has no corporate friends. Apparently you don’t actually read the Irregular Times web site, but they spend a lot of time here criticizing corporations – just like Paul Hackett does.
Your position is getting more and more silly.
You’re now proposing that
1. Ordinary people are incapable of forming a 3rd party
2. The Democratic Party should be blamed for supporting the “duopoly”
3. People should not even try to participate in the political process
4. We all ought to be furious when politicians kowtow to corporations
So, you’re suggesting that citizens not bother voting, and then wondering why politicians don’t bother trying to give voters what they need.
You criticize people for not voting for a third party in a place where there is no third party.
You’re willing to let Jean Schmidt, a right wing extremist nut, into the US Congress, just because Paul Hackett, who promotes several progressive positions, does not meet your every little demand.
You’re a crackpot, Alan.
But Junga, I agree with every single thing you write and a lot more you imply! Please, by all means vote for Hackett. Tiny little issues like war don’t matter!
In fact, I’d like for you to vote the entire democrat ticket every single time. Don’t think, just vote!
Your masters at the DNC will make sure only dems and reps get on the ballot, so you won’t have to worry your tiny little head about for whom to vote. Just look for the little ‘D’ next to the name and make your mark.
Remember, you *cannot* introduce a third party candidate into a district where there are no third party candidates. They can’t win! And anyway, they don’t exist! So don’t try!
You cannot do anything outside the two party system. You are helpless, Junga. So don’t think, don’t fight, just vote.
Okay?
Okay!
You really are a crackpot, Alan!
Who gives a shit about the war! We need to elect Democrats. Period! Who cares if they’re for staying in Iraq until the cows come home? It doesn’t matter! Antiwar is so GAY!
No Alan, someone could introduce a 3rd party candidate in the Ohio’s 2nd district, but no one is bothering to. So, don’t expect me to go out and say that people should do nothing to stop the Jean Schmidt campaign for theocracy in Washington D.C. and gay bashing all across America just because I ought to wait for some little Ralph Nader clone to show up in Southwestern Ohio.
When someone like Jean Schmidt is chewing on the bone of my liberty, I’ll use whatever damn tool I can to get her off. I’m not going to wait to use a sweatshop-free, union-made, fair-trade, fired with organic wood by a gay-friendly blacksmith shop hammer to show up. I’ll use the hammer that’s there.
You and Jim Dandy are being real creeps suggesting that Paul Hackett doesn’t care about the troops coming home from Iraq. He was there, you assholes, and he’s against the war. He fought hard in Ohio to try to stop the war from starting in the first place.
It seems that you just don’t care about Social Security, or health care, or fighting corporate domination like Paul Hackett does. Those are things he’s fighting for. What the hell do YOU stand for “Alan Smithee” (a fake name) and JimDandy??
What the hell do you suggest as an alternative to voting for Paul Hackett??? A campaign of sarcasm and sneering?
It won’t work. That’s nothing but an adolescent pose. If you don’t care if Jean Schmidt gets into Congress and starts voting with the far right religious fanatics to outlaw extramarital sex and place Ten Commandments monuments in every village square, then that’s your business.
I do care. Paul Hackett is a decent man who is fighting against the Bush War in Iraq in his own way. He’s sure a hell of a lot better than Jean Schmidt, and given that there is no 3rd party candidate, I will support Paul Hackett all the way.
Why don’t you two go spend your time actually DOING something to make the world a better place instead of complaining that other people aren’t doing it for you?
Wow! That’s a lot of evasion in one post. I think I like the projection bit the most. That whole “complaining that other people aren’t doing it for you” as if this twerp weren’t doing *exactly* the least he could do.
And that from some demobot who thinks keeping our troops in the Iraqi quagmire is doing them some huge favor. Hi-larious!
No, really, I agree with Jim and Heretic. Who gives a crap about the Iraq. It’s far more important to just shut up and vote.
Far more important to vote than to shut up, troll.
Alan, are you just posting here in order see your pseudonym up on the screen?
I’ll just quote the article against which you first started your weird anti-voting, anti-participation screed:
“The choice is yours. Will you be part of the active progressive 3 percent, or will you be part of the lazy 97 percent?”
Alan is choosing to be part of the lazy 97 percent. J. Clifford, and the “twerp” that you complain about, Heretic, as well as Junga and Hare Trinity, are choosing to be part of the 3 percent that does the work of trying to get people involved in the political process.
All Alan can do is pout like an adolescent who isn’t old enough to vote, and say that not voting is the best thing to do.
By the way, Alan. No one person can create a political party. That’s what democracy is all about. Political parties are the result of cooperation and consensus, but a single person’s complaints.
Alan is so busy with sarcasm and putting words in other people’s mouths that he’s stopped making any genuine refutations of people’s arguments here.
Go ahead, Alan. Keep posting. Keep providing this article with more and more keywords so that it will get more readers. They’ll see through your childish rants, and follow the links to the Paul Hackett for Congress campaign.
Excellent, Patricia! I agree completely. No one can create a political party, so all you can do is vote for the two that already exist.
And remember, anyone who disagrees is childish or a crackpot. Opinion is much more important than fact. Just look at the mainstream media!
So, yeah, J and Junga and Jim and all the other ‘J’s are right. As long as it’s your *opinion* that you’re prowar candidate will take the 2nd district in Nov., it’s sure to happen! Facts don’t matter in the slightest.
It’s clear that Alan is not interested in the facts.
Patricia just stated that no individual can create a political party, and Alan Smithee, which is a fake name, comes back and makes the sarcastic suggestion that she said that “no one” can create a political party.
These behaviors, in complete denial of the detailed, factual arguments that Patricia, J. Clifford, Junga and others have presented, suggest that “Alan Smithee” is in fact a troll who is personally dedicated to making sure that the Democrat Paul Hackett gets as little support as is necessary.
We’ve made our points clearly. Alan Smithee is reduced to ridiculous sarcasm and backwards talking. This discussion is done. Let’s talk more about Paul Hackett, and leave “Alan Smithee”, whoever that really is, to rust.
Troll.
I agree. What I’d like to bring back to the forefront is that the effort to impeach George W. Bush would be quite strengthened by a Paul Hackett victory. Jean Schmidt would only stand for dangerous far right radicalism.
Me too. This guy’s just a troll and probably gets paid for it by the peaceniks. We have to keep our troops in Iraq like Paul says. Vote Hackett in Nov.!!!
Look, Alan, your wasting your time here. Let me tell you why.
First, I’ve checked the numbers you posted above and yes, you are correct about the political makeup of 2nd district. You’re also right about the Ohio redistricting and how the two parties carved the state up and blah blah blah. All of this is available at:
http://www.fairvote.org/index.php?page=564
But, as should be blindingly obvious from the comments above, these people are not interested in facts. Look around you. Do you see any attempts objective political analysis? You do not. What you do seem for the most part, is invective and opinion.
Secondly Alan, you’re obviously against the war. Good, so am I. This puts us with the majority of people but, conversely, outside the two major parties.
Do you see any antiwar articles around here Alan? Any information about stopping the war? You do not. At best you might find a few token links to antiwar groups. If your really interested in networking with likeminded individuals, let me invite you to:
http://www.antiwar.com
http://www.democracyrising.us
and
http://www.unitedforpeace.org
Third (and, I promise Alan, last) you seem interested in a third parties. Now again, look around. Do you see anything about the Greens or the Libertarians? No, again, you do not. Why?
Because this is a democrat blog, Alan! They’re not interested in anything outside the democrat party. Promoting their candidates and vilifying republicans is all they want to do, Alan! Don’t you get that?
Just read all the posts above you, Alan. See the hatred flowing off the page? They don’t want to hear about it, Alan. They’re not interested in ideas or political strategies or anything of the sort. They want to hate Bush and vote Dem. See?
So, honestly now Alan. Check out the links I’ve posted above and stop bothering these people.
They’re not interested.
Nice misinformation MeanJeanGreen.
As for the credibility of MeanJeanGreen, I’ll just point out that two of those three links are among those linked to by Irregular Times at their anti-war activism center Magniloquence Against War.
And, Irregular Times actually has HUNDREDS of anti-war articles. Found ‘em on Google and in Magniloquence Against War and in their front page War and Peace section.
MeanJeanGreen, JimDandy and Alan Smithee, all fake names, appear to be the same person. You’ve all got zero credibility here, having been caught in several lies. Knock it off. You’ve been busted by several different people here.
No matter how much Alan Smithee and MeanJeanGreen continue to insult liberals, we know the difference between the real thing and their fake garbage.
I’m glad I found this article. I’m in Ohio’s 2nd district, and I’m going to spread the word to my friends and family – and to the people at work today.
Paul Hackett for Congress in 2005!
One – Undoubtedly, Irregular Times has HUNDREDS of antiwar bumperstickers for sale. Note how often they get mentioned in “articles” on the site.
Two – ‘Democrat’ and ‘liberal’ are NOT the same thing. Most members of the democrat party resemble Eisenhower Republicans.
Three – Well of course we’re all the same person! After all, it’s a grand conspiracy isn’t it?.
No, Mean Jean.
I meant hundreds of anti-war articles.
That’s in addition to their many anti-war bumper stickers, anti-war buttons and magnets, and anti-war posters and postcards.
You’re lying through your teeth.
I’m with Kirk. As a liberal, I am in support of Paul Hackett for Congress in Ohio’s 2nd district. I’m sending him my die-hard liberal donation today.
Looks like the Alan Smithee fake clones – sure to be Republican trolls – have forgotten even trying to argue against the clear truth:
Paul Hackett is the perfect candidate to take on that crazy Jean Schmidt in this special election here in Ohio. I’ve sent my check to Hackett for Congress…
Yes, where are the Alan Smithee cynics now that Paul Hackett has a real chance of winning? The politics of down in the mouth we-can’t-do-it-surrender have been exposed as a sham.