Very Proud

I know I've said some very disparaging things about the average American (and rightfully so) but my heart is filled with pride tonight that Americans refused to be denied their rights and went out and voted -- standing in long lines to do exercise the right that ALL AMERICANS have, to help determine the outcome of elections that will help determine their futures.  And I'm very proud also of the people who came to the aid of those who waited to vote by bring them food, water and warmth.
I'm obviously happy with the result of the Presidential election and think that result is very telling as well, and that the vast majority of the wingnuts in Senate races lost as well.  Maybe there's hope for us after all.
In the immortal words of George W. Bush, "I've earned some capital in this election and I plan to spend it."  The people have spoken.  If you're not going to help, get the fuck out of the way.  I think this election also proves that the people are still stronger than the vast amounts of money and influence of a few, something that I wasn't so sure of too long ago.
Finally, congratulations to Angus King, our new independent Senator from Maine.  Now we've elected three independents to very high office.  Good night, America.

OneMaine

Those of you who know me personally or have read enough of my writing know that I am nothing if not fiercely independent.  That means that not only do I not always vote for one party in elections, it also means that I strongly support maintaining my right to be independent, not affiliated with any political party; therefore, not having pressure from my chosen party to go along with something I disagree with.
Sometimes I find it important to vote for Independents to make a point, although usually I vote for Independents because I believe in what they stand for, and always support issues that make it easier for independents to get involved in politics or make it easier for all of us to vote, such as open primaries.
Aside from voting for an Independent, it can often be difficult for an independent like myself to find organizations to support who stand for the same things.  Well, there is an organization now here in Maine called OneMaine, founded and chaired by Eliot Cutler, who you'll remember I wrote about and supported during his run for Governor last year (very nearly winning and becoming our third Independent Governor).  He founded this organization to attempt to bring under one roof all the people in Maine who are of like mind about having less partisanship and more cooperation in our politics for the benefit of the people of Maine.  From the OneMaine website:

OneMaine provides a rallying point for people who think for themselves, who believe that our politics need to be more effective and less partisan, and who care less about parties and more about common interests and shared purpose. We are not a political party, but rather a big tent in which Mainers of all stripes – Democrats, Republicans, Greens and unenrolled, independent voters – can collaborate, share ideas and move Maine forward.

Mr. Cutler helped establish this organization following last year's gubernatorial election to try to take advantage of the independent momentum of that campaign and to provide a place for disparate people with a common goal of the best interests of Mainers.
I would encourage you to support OneMaine (you can start at the link above or like them on Facebook) or to look for like organizations if you live outside of Maine.  There are many of you out there like myself who have always been independent and have looked for a place to get involved without joining a party.  Now you have that place.
The other day I sent an email to OneMaine asking if they'd be so kind as to give me a progress update on OneMaine that I could share with you.  Kaitlin LaCasse, the media relations director, was gracious enough to get right back to me with the following:

"So far, the response to OneMaine has been fantastic. When we launched in Bangor a few months ago, over 75 people attended to learn more about OneMaine and to have a conversation about how to best move the organization forward. Since then, we've held events all around the state, and the enthusiasm for OneMaine continues to amaze me. At our Portland event (where there were over 100 people!), an older gentleman came up to me after and said, "thank you, I've been yearning for something like this." The best part is that the man hadn't ever connected with us before - he had read about the event in the paper and decided to come check it out! So, OneMaine continues to grow and mature and we're excited about the potential."
 Thank you!
 Kaitlin

 Cross-posted at The Hankster

Yesterday at the Culter rally in Auburn

It was a very good turnout at the rally, and the crowd and candidate were very enthusiastic and optimistic.  One of the key points to Eliot's speech in Auburn, aside from rallying the faithful, was to point out yet again that he promised to run a clean campaign with no negative or personal attack ads; and he's done that.  Good for you, Eliot, and good for us.
Folks, Eliot can win this thing and I feel he must win if this state is to have a chance of moving forward in a tangible way.
Ask yourselves why has every major newspaper in the state endorsed Eliot Cutler for Governor?  You can't say it's because they're partisan liberals or they would have endorsed the Democrat.  Say what you will about newspapers but I for one still believe journalists are driven by intellectual curiosity and truth.  Smart people write for newspapers.  Don't be afraid of smart people.  Listen to Eliot Cutler speak -- he's not only obviously very intelligent but he's very well informed.  He's done a great deal of research and work to determine what our problems are in this state and how they can be fixed.  He's sincere -- he's not telling us it'll be easy or that we're all going to find pots of gold at the end of the rainbow.  You can feel comfortable knowing that when he becomes Governor, he'll be working for us, not for anyone else.  So return the favor -- get yourself to the polls tomorrow and vote for Eliot Cutler.  Drag along a few friends too.
If you're still undecided and want to do some research of your own, then by all means but make sure you go to Cutler's website as part of your research.
On a personal note, I went over to Eliot after the rally and introduced myself.  Yours truly got a little ego boost when he knew who I was, based on one little blog post.  The man obviously is a good judge of character and has a mind like a steel trap -- firm handshake too, if you're inclined to judge by such things.

My vote will be for Eliot Cutler

As will probably come as no surprise to those who know how fiercely independent I am, I have decided to vote for Eliot Cutler for Governor of Maine.  In a nutshell it comes down to voting for who I feel can do the best job for the people of Maine and doing the best job for the state takes many forms.  Not only do I feel he is best suited ideologically, has the best skill set and the best breadth of experience but in my opinion he is the only candidate who has any chance from a practical standpoint of affecting the necessary change.  Frankly, being the only moderate in the race, he's the candidate whose plans and ideology are in tune with the vast majority of Mainers.  And although it's a campaign slogan, "Independent, just like Maine" gives you a pretty good idea who he'll represent in the Blaine House.
With Libby Mitchell, while less destructive an option, we know we're going to get more of the same -- not fiscally conservative enough to make the necessary tough decisions and surrounded by a Legislature of like mind.  So I don't expect a sea change in direction.
Paul LePage?  The kindest thing I could say about a potential LePage administration is entrenched bickering with the Democratic majority in the Legislature.  Ideologically I disagree in practically every way with him and while I consider myself moderately conservative fiscally, I'm still a million miles away from him.  And before you assume I won't vote for him because he's a Republican, which I don't think he is anyway, I had pretty much decided I was going to vote for Peter Mills before the primaries.
So in my opinion Eliot Cutler is the only candidate with a legitimate opportunity to get his plans pushed through the legislature, plans that will actually make a difference. 
And I know you're going to say "But aren't you just throwing your vote away?"  "Isn't a vote for Cutler actually a vote for LePage?"  I'll take the last first.  There's much debate about who the undecided voters are and given Cutler's leaning toward being fiscally conservative, I wouldn't be so sure that he'd take more votes from Mitchell than LePage.  If you vote for the person you truly feel is the best qualified, how could that ever be throwing a vote away?  And let me ask you this to chew on:  If I'm right that neither Mitchell nor LePage are change agents for the better, then aren't you throwing your vote away supporting them?
I admit this post isn't big on details but to write a post like that would end up being unreadable.  If you know me, you know I do my due diligence and I don't take the process lightly.  My purpose is to make you curious at least as to why I support Eliot Cutler and then do your own research and make up your own mind.  If you're as intellectually curious as I am, I think you'll arrive at the same conclusion.
And as always, at least get out there and vote.  Don't let someone else make the decision for you.

No one to blame but yourself

If you buy all the negative ads that have no substance, no proof, no facts aimed at a candidate from the party opposite the one you're aligned with because you're just looking for a reason to support your current good-for-nothing, rubber-stamp incumbent, then you'll have no one to blame but yourself when nothing changes (even worse, if you don't vote at all).
As I've done time and time before, I urge everyone to vote; but equally as important I urge you to take a step back and look at the issues and the candidates with a fresh and open mind, as painful and distasteful as that may be for you. Also, look at all the issues and prioritize their importance, because you're going to be asked to vote for a candidate because he/she supports a "pet" issue of yours. They're hoping you'll ignore or excuse their mistakes and incompetence and even lies because they've brought pork to your district. Ask yourself what is truly most important, research that issue and the candidates' stance on that issue.
You know what? Sorry I've been too busy lately to write and the above is far from my best work. Just throw them all out and start over...you'll feel better, I promise. If nothing else, we'll end up with at least some oversight for the first time in a while. It is possible! Just think what a message it would send if you decided to vote entirely for incumbents and you got just one person to do the same, and that one person got one person to do the same, and so on. You know what you'd have? A true democracy.

For those who care, I hope to get a chance to make some recommendations, my reasons for supporting certain candidates. I can tell you now though that the overriding theme will be anti-incumbency, but I will have more reasons than that if I have time to do it at all.
government politics citizens independent vote reform anti-incumbent Congress

Anti-incumbent fever or anti-majority?

You've seen me comment, rant and encourage on this blog many times about my views regarding the voters' pathetic record regarding voting for who they're familiar with much more than who they believe to be the better candidate based on information. I've encouraged readers to research voting records and issues before deciding on a candidate.
Do the latest poll numbers, such as this one from The Washington Post, show that voters are finally getting wise and getting informed, therefore ready to clean out incumbents and start over, or do the polls simply indicate a dissatisfaction with the party in power?
Seems to me it's a justifiable dissatisfaction with the party in power, the Republicans; and for many, many good reasons. You can fill in the blanks yourself. While I think that's a good place to start, if the mindset of the voter doesn't include the realization that much that we're dissatisfied with can be attributed to overall complacency and arrogance, it will only be a start to a necessary house cleaning without a finish.
People need to realize that the minority party plays many of the same games, is beholding to many of the same special interests as well as specific ones of their own, has not done their job of being a watchdog on corruption (in fact, has joined in) and thus have failed us nearly as much as the Republicans have.
So while you're frustrated, angry and ready to kick the "bad guys" out by voting against the Republicans, realize that you're only doing half the job, therefore really not accomplishing anything, if you don't include the Democrats in your anti-incumbent passion. You'll simply be rewarding them for not being as bad, when in fact they are just as bad, just not in a position to take as much advantage of their power as Republicans.

So while I personally would rather see the Democrats in power come November than the Republicans (and that would be a good thing), it falls far short of my ultimate goal of a complete reforming of the system (read my previous series on Representative Govt) by infusing Congress with new blood, especially independents. While the Democrats will take advantage of the current climate, not infusing true independents into the mix and thus giving Americans more real choices and new ideas fixes nothing in the long run.

Cross posted in large part on
Watchblog.

ANNOUNCEMENT: I've started writing also at VOID, Vote Out Incumbents Democracy, the blogsite of an unconnected PAC whose mission is much as I've laid out here and other places, a perfect fit for the Zebster. I'll mostly be compiling poll data into short anti-incumbent updates, as well as the occasional editorial piece.

government politics citizens independent vote reform anti-incumbent Congress

A Good Thing? (Rep Govt V)

So the Republican Party ascended to power over the last 25 years by polarizing the nation with its "you're either with us or agin us" tactics, by falsely setting itself up as the moral center of the country, and by taking advantage of what it's traditionally done best and Democrats have failed at...governing.
Now that the current inept and uncredible administration has shown us what we get when we vote by "tradition," by sound bite and by focusing on the possible negatives instead of proven positives, the Democrats have a chance to regain power, either half or all of Congress this year and perhaps the White House in '08. But will it be a good thing for the country if they do so by using many of the same tactics, by rallying its base further to the left and making the country even more polarized, thus leaving the majority of the country in the middle essentially unrepresented?
So while we're left to decide between a course without a plan or a plan without a course -- or is it neither -- keep in mind that we should be voting for candidates who represent positions on issues held by the majority of us, which can be substantially different from what we're told our majority position is, a sadly successful tactic because far too many of us wait to be told what our position should be or we're told what supposedly the majority position is and then go along with it.
The only way we can truly have a government that represents our views is to have views based on as much unbiased and divergent information as possible.
government politics citizens independent vote

When politicians speak (Representative Govt IV)

Editor's note: Hi everyone. This is something I've been working on off and on for weeks. Since being back at my old job is as time consuming as ever, I thought I'd just put this up to have something new published.

When politicians speak, who are they talking to? Are they talking to other politicians of their own party? Are they talking to the voting members of their party? Could they be talking to undecided voters? Perhaps, but what's their true motive? Are they talking to those who've funded their campaigns, which is most likely?
Even when someone says all the right things to us true independents or swing voters, can we trust their motives? Are they just using buzz words like reform simply because they know that's what we want to hear? Even if they propose or vote for things we want, such as reform, can we trust that it's not based on political expediency, thus political survival?
How do we tell the difference? I propose one way to tell the difference is for the American voting public to stop having such a short memory. When politicians tell you they stand for something, we need to remember what they stood for, when and why. We need to be willing to research voting records and quotes in newspapers when those issues arise again. We need to ignore what members of their party tell us is that person's motivation, their position. We need to base our opinion of their motives and their positions on their actions and nothing else.
We most certainly need to drop our mental magnets that make us blindly nod our heads in agreement because the person making the statement or opinion is a member of the party we're aligned with. If that politician says something, evaluate it case by case. If you agree with that person 90% of the time, that's fine if you call them on the other 10% and if there's a true basis for agreeing with them the other 90.
I feel being an independent, which helps me keep my mind open to all views, has served me well in ensuring I have a basis for supporting a particular politician; and I've voted for nearly as many Republicans as Democrats and a fair number of indies through the years. I was raised that way and come from the only state, Maine, that has elected two independent governors through the years.
I would really appreciate the thoughts of others on both sides and the middle on this one, or I'll be forced to write a blog I've been thinking about doing related to why people rarely comment on blogs.

If you're interested in a life and work update, please check out All Things Zebster. I appreciate your support.
politicians independents voters Democrats Republicans reform politics

Yes, even in the blogosphere...

Even the blogosphere -- filled with articulate, intelligent people as it is -- is susceptible to a couple of traditional woes of mankind; those being the herd mentality of irrational thought or lack thereof, and the fact that the more popular you get the more afraid you are to take a stand.
Since I'm not popular (yet) or particularly articulate, I'll let Booman at the Booman Tribune speak for me, as he does it so well in this post discussing why much of the liberal left is afraid to take a stand against Israel, even in part.

The latter issue regarding herd mentality I feel I can speak well on. I am a lifelong liberal and a lifelong independent, both by choice. To me being a liberal has always meant being open minded and thus better done by being a political independent...open minded to the prospect that right and necessary and possible can come from any direction. "But if by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a Liberal." JFK

If you are not unwavering in that ideal of open-mindedness, you are easily susceptible to the herd mentality, susceptible to the tendency to judge right by affiliation, susceptible to closing your mind to the possibility of being wrong; and nothing in my opinion is more dangerous than that combination.

So while the internet and blogs in particular are a wonderful place for open dialogue and discourse, it is also plagued by the herd mentality, of close-mindedness, ergo a lack of full thought. A wonderful line in a post by Fallen Monk sums it up poetically and succinctly. It's like "a bunch of ducks trying to fuck a football."

So in these trying times I beseech all, regardless of what pole you stand closest to, to keep an open mind, to base your opinions as much on fact and as little on emotional reaction as possible; otherwise, it defeats the purpose of this whole idea of open discussion as a means of change and progress.
government politics philosophy independent liberal

Barbara Merrill update

I did indeed attend her coffee tour stop this morning, though it became evident to me early on that this was not a good forum or setting to get our questions asked, answered and relayed back to you in an efficient, accurate way. She has graciously agreed to respond to our questions in written form. So I'll spend the day today reformulating, updating and putting those questions into an email that I'll send off later today. So if you've thought of something else you'd like to ask or a better way of asking your question, there's still time.
While we wait for her answers, I would suggest you check out her website, as it does address to a fair degree some of the issues we've discussed.
I did get to sit and chat with her and a couple members of her campaign staff. My take meeting her in person is that she's earnest and genuinely cares about the people of Maine and the issues they face. Perhaps the best way of stating it is that I think she understands those issues, and that is in large part due to the fact that she in my opinion is one of us...an everyday Mainer. She seems informed on the issues, she's intelligent, down to earth and most importantly open minded. She understands that the current political environment is not conducive to change, not conducive to new ideas and, therefore, not conducive to getting things done that will make a real difference in the lives of Mainers.
Obviously it would beg the question of whether, if elected, could she overcome the current intransigence in State politics and get things done. Would she be able to get reforms through. I believe any elected official in a position like governor can get a lot done if it is the will of the people. The electorate can demand, believe it or not, that their elected officials reform government; but you can't put that kind of pressure on politicians by doing nothing, nor by simply voting. If we truly want something done, we need to exert as much pressure as possible through being active in all the ways that are available; and if they don't do what we want, throw them out.
And there's also this from the Kennebec Journal , which Barbara only had a chance to refer to briefly, in that it was taking up a lot of time recently.
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