Thursday, February 07, 2008

My thoughts on Super Tuesday

Well, Super Tuesday has come and gone. The Republican race looks much clearer now, and the Democratic race hasn't even started to sort itself out. I didn't take part in Super Tuesday here in Colorado. As a registered independent, I wasn't able to participate in either caucus.

The results of Super Tuesday really weren't what's important to me. After all, anyone who reads this blog knows that I see both the Republican party and the Democratic party as parts of the same evil that now haunts the United States. I'm always encouraging people to vote third party and help us break the stranglehold the two main powers have over We the People.

So, my main interest is in the way the media has portrayed this thing. I haven't seen much national news lately, so instead I'll focus on some of the analysis from local "experts."

Many people are saying that a lot can be said for what will happen in November based on what we saw on Tuesday. They point to the fact that Colorado has a slightly higher population of registered Republicans as opposed to Democrats, and yet significantly more Dems turned out to vote. The experts say that this shows that a Democratic candidate could take Colorado this year.

I think there are two important factors they're missing. First, if Hillary gets the nomination, almost every Republican will turn out to vote for McCain, whether they agree with him or not. Second, fully a third of registered voters in Colorado are registered as Independents. We will be the ones to have the final say in November, and nothing in Super Tuesday can predict how we will vote. Granted, my vote won't make a difference because I won't vote for either party. I'm done with them, but other Independents will make a difference, and this is something the mainstream media has tended to ignore...or should I say marginalize? The people who aren't committed to one party or the other have a chance to make a big difference in this election, and now that Nader has thrown his name back in the ring, things have become even more confusing. And I'm sure there are a lot of Dems out there who are upset with him because they blame him and the Green Party for giving the 2000 election to Bush...but let's face it, if the Democratic party still believed as it used to, liberals and progressives wouldn't be looking for an alternative...

2 comments:

Jim Shannon said...

I'm not big on US politics but in the news the other day a poll conducted said most young voters are saying that their #1 concern is the economy and not the invironment. I find that extreamly interesting.


Jim

J Alan Erwine said...

The environment is sort of an amorphous idea, so people can't always wrap their brains around it...the fact that our economy is tanking fast is something that's very tangible!

Plus, people, especially Americans tend to wait until they can really see a problem before they do anything about it...and then it's often too late, and I think that's where we stand on environmental issues.