Thomas N. Trosin, CF, CTF, CJF

First a correction.

Brother Price wrote: " Yellow Dog is a perjorative term, dear brother".

I think he meant pejorative, which bummed me out, first because my brother is a multiple spelling champion and that the word when spelled correctly, means "derogatory". Denigrating the Swedish side of my family was not my intent but I couldn't come up another phrase that would clearly state that they would vote for a yellow dog before they voted for a Republican.

Brother Price continues: "Please regard the fact that the part of your family that is nearer to Asgard has and had nothing to do with the south, "

True Fact as the lovely and Honorable Peggy Frackrell would say. Both sides of my family are from the mid-west originally.
With all apologies. Noted.

A continuation of Wednesday's rainy day post.

I think its clear that I am not a Barbara Boxer (D-CA) fan. Not for the reasons you might think, but needing to refer to her in a distinguished title, something I thought was reserved for Judges only added to it. I don't like her, I even voted for Bill Jones and I'm a moderate. She's dismissive, she thinks she knows about where I live even though she rarely comes down here, and I haven't liked any of her hair styles. The straw that broke the camels back was in 2004 when she had a comfortable lead on the aforementioned Mr. Jones. She demanded and got more campaign money from the Democratic National Committee. Why would you do that? She damn sure didn't need it and it only served to hurt democratic candidates in other parts of the country. No telling what she did with that money either. Perhaps she will come forward and let us know one day in a tell all book. Hopefully soon, she'll have plenty of time on her hands. All that said before you go out to beat the Senator you gotta win a primary.

By law in California, you can only vote for partisan candidates if you are a member of their party. If you go vote on primary day, and you are listed as an independent or decline to state, you will be handed a ballot with only propositions and other non partisan positions such as city counsel, Judges, etc. This was the result of a fear that people would "ballot load," which was a politicians explanation that people would jump from their own party to elect a weaker candidate. This came to fruition in the 2008 Presidential election when people jumped party lines in South Carolina to vote for Hillary Clinton in order to stop Barack Obama's winning streak. So I guess there is a point to it.

None the less it's not fair, I shouldn't have to register with either party to decide who represents me in congress and that decision begins at the primary level. Decline to state is the third largest voting segment in the state and nearly eclipses those who are not registered to vote at all. I decline to declare allegiance to either party because I don't believe in their entire platform. I am just as down on "tax and spend", "cap and trade", as I am on "refund and war" and "a corporation has the same rights as a person".

When voting reform came to California, it would have been so simple to make a law that said only decline to state and independent voters would have the option to vote in either primary and that if you were registered party member you were stuck where you were. That's not happening because political parties are greedy and in this day and age where the next campaign begins immediately after the last, who can blame them. It is defiantly better if the parties have us all wedged in to convenient little boxes so they don't have to do much outreach. It is easier to poach from another party or move money from a weak campaign than it is to try to figure out independent voters.

At any rate, when I re-register to vote next week it's going to be as a Republican, so I can have my say on who runs against the Senator. Her supporters will say my reasons are silly, maybe they are. But California needs selfless representation in Washington and I can't see the Senator getting off of her high horse (HA! horse reference) to think about the people of California.

Sunday- a horseshoeing post of some sort

Labels: California Primaries, Price, the Senator