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Preparing for my civic duty
Wow, lots of new people from the friending meme! *waves to new people* Now I am going to scare you all away by writing about politics. ;)
So it's election time in California, and that means one thing: ballot initiatives. State, city, county, local. Since San Francisco is both a city and a county, at least I have one one layer of local ballot issues as opposed to many of my friends who have two, but still, it can get pretty out of control. The fact that I have "only" 18 to deal with this time around makes the ballot seem positively tiny. Still, it is a lot of things to read up on and figure out, and the fact that I'm sure the vast majority of my fellow Californians don't bother to do the same, but just vote based on TV ads and the titles of the propositions depresses me greatly. But I've ranted about the CA proposition system and how much I hate it before, so I'll spare you all that. This time. Fortunately, I had the chance to get together with friends today to talk through the ballot and share impressions and information, and I came away feeling pretty secure on how I'm going to vote on all the initiatives.
What I don't know is how to vote in local elections such as school board, and information and endorsements seem really hard to come by. And it's so important, because so much of politics is local. On a day-to-day basis, who sits on the school board probably has a much bigger impact on my life than who is president. And it can have larger ramifications, too: issues like teaching creationism in schools happens at a local level (not that I think we're in danger of a rash of creationists sneaking onto the school board in San Francisco), and many people start their political careers in positions like these. It's too bad that there isn't a better way to access the candidates' platforms, records, alliances, etc. Guess it's time to start digging.
So it's election time in California, and that means one thing: ballot initiatives. State, city, county, local. Since San Francisco is both a city and a county, at least I have one one layer of local ballot issues as opposed to many of my friends who have two, but still, it can get pretty out of control. The fact that I have "only" 18 to deal with this time around makes the ballot seem positively tiny. Still, it is a lot of things to read up on and figure out, and the fact that I'm sure the vast majority of my fellow Californians don't bother to do the same, but just vote based on TV ads and the titles of the propositions depresses me greatly. But I've ranted about the CA proposition system and how much I hate it before, so I'll spare you all that. This time. Fortunately, I had the chance to get together with friends today to talk through the ballot and share impressions and information, and I came away feeling pretty secure on how I'm going to vote on all the initiatives.
What I don't know is how to vote in local elections such as school board, and information and endorsements seem really hard to come by. And it's so important, because so much of politics is local. On a day-to-day basis, who sits on the school board probably has a much bigger impact on my life than who is president. And it can have larger ramifications, too: issues like teaching creationism in schools happens at a local level (not that I think we're in danger of a rash of creationists sneaking onto the school board in San Francisco), and many people start their political careers in positions like these. It's too bad that there isn't a better way to access the candidates' platforms, records, alliances, etc. Guess it's time to start digging.
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I find voting on judges *incredibly stressful*, and I actually rather would have them appointed. It goes back to my entire issue with direct democracy in communities that are really too big to support it: I vote for legislators, and it's their job to do things like write laws and vet judges. If I disagree with the laws they create or the judges they appoint, I can always vote in someone else.
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Direct democracy is such a problematic idea. It sounds good but, in practice, it creates all sorts of problems. I turned in last year's ballot with a couple of slots blank because I just couldn't make heads or tails of it. I felt bad turning in a partly completed ballot but ... erg. erg. erg. *headdesk*
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