[Peace-discuss] How to vote.

[E.Wayne Johnson]

Since this seems to be the season for definitions, personal or general,
I would be interested in knowing clearly what is a Rightist as opposed to or
differentiated from some other ideology.

I hear people talk about the Old Right and the New Right and the "ever more 
Right".
I am not sure if they know what they mean let alone inform me by the labels 
cast about.

It is a serious question.  What is a rightist and what is their ideology and 
why is it "wrong" or
dysfunctional?


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Morton K. Brussel" <brussel at illinois.edu>
To: "Peace-discuss List" <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2010 10:11 AM
Subject: [Peace-discuss] How to vote.


> This is for fun. Fun?
>
> How to vote in the coming election. Options and likely consequences:
>
> 1) Abstain from voting in protest or indifference. If enough do so, either 
> the Dems or the Repubs will win the Congress, one or both houses. Most 
> probably, with high abstentions in key states, it will mostly hurt Dems. 
> Hope for the worst or the best.
>
> 2) Vote and support Green Party, Libertarian, or some other presently 
> minor party, when possible. The same result as in 1) will most likely 
> occur, but one's conscience may be assuaged by voting for someone whose 
> principles are in mostly agreement with your own. Greens most probably 
> will steal from Dems, whereas Libertarians will most probably steal from 
> Repubs.
>
> 3) Vote and support Republicans even if having voted otherwise previously. 
> If enough do so, Repubs will probably take over the Congress. Presumably, 
> those who voted for Obama and Dems previously will do so out of disgust, 
> disappointment, and anger with the present Democratically controlled(?) 
> Congress and with with the current administration.
>
> 4) Vote and support Democrats. Then there is a greater chance that 
> Democrats will remain the majority party in the Senate or the House. If 
> so, this means that the government will most probably continue on its 
> current trajectory in foreign and domestic policies.
>
> 5) Vote for and support candidates who best represent your political, 
> economic , environmental and social preferences, irrespective of party 
> label. Who wins Congress is then uncertain, but if there are many 
> cross-overs from the Dems (in key states), then Repubs will prevail.
>
> It is important to remember that the kind of Repubs or Dems elected will 
> have an effect on future policies.  The Repubs are ever more rightist, as 
> exemplified by most Tea party candidates. I see no great change in the 
> character of the likely Dems elected.
>
> If Repubs take over one or both houses of Congress, the outcome  will 
> likely be a stalemate in governance (when there is substantial difference 
> in the positions in the parties), for Obama can still exercise his veto. 
> The wars and occupations are likely to continue, or get worse, nothing new 
> will likely change relative to Israel-Palestine (unless some dramatic 
> events happen on the part of the populations there), the National Security 
> State will persist or continue to grow; civil rights will continue to 
> atrophy. Money will still reign supreme, even more so, in influencing 
> votes. How such a stalemate will influence the Presidential elections of 
> 2012 cannot be foreseen. It depends on various things, including the state 
> of the economy and how well/badly our foreign policies succeed/succumb. 
> Domestic instability is not out of the question.
>
> The rest of the world will not stand still (except for Europe?). What 
> happens with the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries may change 
> our political trajectory, but how? The grab for diminishing and degraded 
> natural resources will intensify and affect every nation's policies.
>
> My crystal ball is somewhat cloudy.
>
> Draw your own conclusions.
>
> --mkb
>
>
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