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This probably won't come as any surprise to anyone who knows me well, but I abandoned the Democratic Party almost 15 years ago in favor of the Green Party. I got tired of broken promises, empty values and spineless corporate shills disguised as Democrats. The only party I loathe more than the Democrats are the Republicans. I haven't voted for a non-Green for President in years, and usually have voted Green for U.S. Senate and U.S. House as well.
Now, Green Party candidates are hard to come by in places, so I've come up with some rules for how I vote:
1.) If a Green Party candidate is running, vote Green.
2.) If no Green candiate is available, then look at all other third-party candidates. See if the Libertarian candidate is palatable.
3.) If no third party candidate is available, look at the Republican and Democratic candidates, determine who's less evil, hold my nose, and vote.
This may offend some of my more enthusiastic Democratic friends, but as much as I dislike the Republicans, I don't love the Democrats either. I've opted out of the 2-party system, and have no plans to opt back in. I almost never vote for the lesser of two evils, because I see it as still voting for evil.
So I vote for who appeals to me. Regardless of how likely they are to win, and regardless of how "unstrategic" some Democrats think my vote may be. Democrats have to EARN my vote... and few of them are up to that.
Now, here in Washington State, pro-war Incumbent Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell is up for re-election. I call her pro-war because she doesn't favor use getting out of Iraq immediately. She voted for the Iraq War Resolution H.J.Res. 114 in October 2001, for which she can not be forgiven, and she must be punished. Even if there were no Green candidate available, I could not in good conscience vote for her.
Fortunately, she is up against a Green, Aaron Dixon, who is almost 100% on all of my issues... including pulling out of Iraq immediately.
It's a no-brainer. It's a matter of priciple.
I'm voting for Aaron Dixon.
Now, Green Party candidates are hard to come by in places, so I've come up with some rules for how I vote:
1.) If a Green Party candidate is running, vote Green.
2.) If no Green candiate is available, then look at all other third-party candidates. See if the Libertarian candidate is palatable.
3.) If no third party candidate is available, look at the Republican and Democratic candidates, determine who's less evil, hold my nose, and vote.
This may offend some of my more enthusiastic Democratic friends, but as much as I dislike the Republicans, I don't love the Democrats either. I've opted out of the 2-party system, and have no plans to opt back in. I almost never vote for the lesser of two evils, because I see it as still voting for evil.
So I vote for who appeals to me. Regardless of how likely they are to win, and regardless of how "unstrategic" some Democrats think my vote may be. Democrats have to EARN my vote... and few of them are up to that.
Now, here in Washington State, pro-war Incumbent Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell is up for re-election. I call her pro-war because she doesn't favor use getting out of Iraq immediately. She voted for the Iraq War Resolution H.J.Res. 114 in October 2001, for which she can not be forgiven, and she must be punished. Even if there were no Green candidate available, I could not in good conscience vote for her.
Fortunately, she is up against a Green, Aaron Dixon, who is almost 100% on all of my issues... including pulling out of Iraq immediately.
It's a no-brainer. It's a matter of priciple.
I'm voting for Aaron Dixon.
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Just noting.
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Re: Just noting.
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I know this sounds funny, but in Ben words (which are weird): Think of when there are two nominations for best actor for the same actor because they did two outstanding performances that year. I do not believe an actor has EVER won when that happens. It splits the vote and a third person wins, even if they didn't deserve it...
...did that make any sense at all? (and please don't answer by saying you never watch the Oscars or don't care about them, that wasn't my point **G**)
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OK, my immediate reaction to your statement Ben: FUCK YOU.
Sorry if that is harsh, but you obviously have no clue - no fucking clue - how fucking offensive that argument you just made is.
You have basically just implied that, I, as someone who didn't vote for a Democrat, am responsible for (a party to) Bush getting elected.
I've been hearing this tired old argument ever since I worked for the Nader campaign in 2000 (and if I could go back in time to 2000, I'd vote for Nader again in a *heartbeat*, even knowing the outcome of the election).
And until you, and Democrats like you, understand WHY that statement you just made is so offensive... I don't want to have a political conversation with you. Because it's just going to devolve into an argument.
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I gave you an opinion. You have a LIVE journal so people can comment. I love and care about you. Do you only want me to nod my head in agreement when you post? Or do you want me to say things like... "Cool down, my friend. Dwell in a good place. Do NOT take on negative energy."
I'll do either if that is what you want me to do.
YOU decided I implied that YOU are responsible for Bush.
We all have our convictions. I am happy you have yours and am even proud of you for having them.
But I personally decided to start fighting fights I could actually win, and not fighting ones I couldn't win. My entire life was chaos. It was turning blacker and blacker and blacker. Now I find more and more light in my life. And I DO fight for what I think is right. I'd lay down my life for a friend.
And as for things devolving into an argument? I still argue. But that is ONLY because I haven't managed to erase the tapes that tell me that I have to have one in the first place. I realized that the need to make my opinion more important than someone else's was ego. It made me feel real. Anger made me feel real. Shouting and marching and signing things made me feel real. Then, for me personally, I have found that the only reality is love... And that is what I am going to focus my energy on.
So I am sorry if my comments caused you to feel offended. But my friend, that is not my fault. You could have decided to consider where the comment came from and know I would not have ever wanted to cause you offense.
With love,
Ben
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No clue. Absolutely no clue.
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That's okay.
I love you anyway, even though it is obvious that you have no clue as to what I am saying.
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Do I think you meant to be offensive? No, obviously not. But not meaning to be offensive and not being offensive are not the same thing.
You didn't mean to attack me, but you did attack me nonetheless.
Like I said before, I was expressing my immediate reaction to what you said. Not a reasoned response, but an emotional one.
What I am hearing you say: You believe Green Party voters are partly responsible for Bush getting elected.
Is this an accurate reflection of your beliefs?
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And I do take exception to the fact that you say I attacked you. Unless you mean the fact that I said "Well fuck you too."
You know, unless it is a gun or a knife or something that I CAN'T do ANYTHING to YOU, right? Just like Doug never cheated ON ME. He did it to himself. Had I been self aware enough to know that, I might have saved myself a lot of pain and a heart attack as well.
I also know that you have been depressed and angry a looooong time and that here are a lot of people who love you and who are wishing you the very best.
Namasté
Ben
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> I wonder how many people who used their votes as you do may have just been a party to the reason why we have Bush.
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Still loving you,
Ben
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We're here. We're Green. We're not Democrats. Get used to it!
Please notice that throughout this whole discussion, I have stayed focused like a Green laser on the original statement you made (translations in Democrat Blue):
> I wonder how many people who used their votes as you do may have just been a party to the reason why we have Bush.
Let's parse this, so you can see why it's so patently offensive.
> "I wonder"
This is pretty much just a non-committal way of saying "I think" or "I believe".
> "how many people"
How many is kind of irrelevant, because it's obviously close to 100%, just about all, almost everyone, who fits into this category. Translation: "all people", or just "people".
> "who used their votes as you do"
This means "who vote Green Party".
> "may have just been"
Again, a noncommittal way of saying "were".
> "a party to"
Translates as: "Complicit in", "responsible for", "the reason why".
> "we have Bush."
Translation: "Bush was elected in 2000."
Adding it all up, what you said was:
"I think" + "people" + "who vote Green Party" + "were" + "the reason why" + "Bush was elected in 2000."
"I think people who vote Green Party were the reason why Bush was elected in 2000."
THAT was the offensive heart of your statement, Ben. Democrats like you blame Greens like me for getting Bush elected in 2000. It's quantitatively not true, but you Democrats can't see reason, and still use the argument as a weapon to beat us Greens over the head with. And we're not going to let you get away with it.
Which brings me full circle back to my original reaction (in Green Party green):
FUCK YOU.
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Re: We're here. We're Green. We're not Democrats. Get used to it!
One of the last nights of MMF I sat talking with DF. He was sorta depressed. This was right before he vanished into the night with Buck. I asked him what was wrong and it seemed it had to do with you. I told him I wasn't comfortable with talking about you behind your back and he said that he wasn't saying anything ABOUT you. This was something you too had discussed.
He said he was upset about your anger and your constant deep dark black depressions. I told him you'd been that way as long as I had known you. He said that he was depressed that you not only would not stop smoking but that you were smoking more than he had ever seen you smoke. He said he was upset about your gaining weight. I said, "I thought you like big men." He said he did, but that you were going into the danger zone for your health. He said you two had talked about it and your calm reply was that loving someone meant loving them for whoever and whatever they were, and that if you wanted to eat and smoke yourself to death, you had that right and he should respect it.
WTF?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
I told him it was some of that kind of stuff which was one of the reasons I had sorta pulled back. You held on to your anger and your depression like shields against the world and that the heavy black cloud that you almost always had about you effected me deeply. Not only because it hurt to see someone I cared about hurt themselves so much, and also because it was SO thick that I almost always became depressed myself.
When I finally shed Doug from my life, I was determined to turn my life around. It is taking a long time, but one thing I refuse to do is take place in ridiculous arguments. I do not dwell on bad stuff. There is no point. I don't fight fights I can win "for my principles" sake. I realized all that is illusion. All that was my ego needing to win things that couldn't be won, or if I did win them, I wasn't really winning anything at all.
So I look for Sangha. Community that has what I want in my life. Peace and love. If people are always argumentative or mean or hurtful or angry or depressed, if there is NOTHING I can do to help, I just stay away from them now. There are six BILLION people on this planet. That is plenty of people for me to associate with.
I am not skipping your journal you because I am mad at you. On the contrary, I love you. But I won't waste energy
with this silly drivel, excuse me, with what I consider silly drivel. If it makes you "happy" to be confrontative and negative all the time and to eat and smoke yourself into your grave, then do it. I will miss you, but I have to live. I will pray for you and hope that you step out of this. Consider how much time we have both WASTED on this. I didn't even bother reading 90% of your comment to me. It carried a cloud of anger and UGLINESS that I won't dwell in.When you get over this and if you want to talk to me, I will gladly be waiting here for you.
And by the way, one of the things that used to amuse you about me was how I flew off the handle in GREAT drama. I just didn't get mad at someone or something, I had to insult their entire linage. Had I "attacked" you, it would have gone something like this:
I understand what you are saying my friend Listen you DUMB ass Mother Fucker. It is dumb fuck asses like YOU who fucking WASTED their votes and made Bush a reality, all so you could stand on your fucking soap boxes with their dumb shit principals intact. How did I ever want to be your friend to stupid asshole!
I didn't say that because that is NOT how I feel. YOU decided it was an attack.
Namasté: The Divine in Me recognizes the Diving in You.
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I understand what you are saying my friend
Listen you DUMB ass Mother Fucker. It is dumb fuck asses like YOU who fucking WASTED their votes and made Bush a reality, all so you could stand on your fucking soap boxes with their dumb shit principals intact. How did I ever want to be your friend to stupid asshole!I didn't say that because that is NOT how I feel. YOU decided it was an attack.
Namasté: The Divine in Me recognizes the Diving in You.
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I'm not the one who keeps coming on to this jornal entry and going on and on about things that have absolutely nothing to do with Green Party voters!