Good for you!
I was a poll worker
by Hortensia 24 Replies latest social current
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kaik
Hortensia, politics does not last too long and in two years this election will be forgotten. It is politics that is fluid and nothing to get hang on. When Obama was elected, Texas and rest of the Bible Belt wanted to secede. Rural areas wanted their own state from state, where large urban cities voted blue. Yet the rural areas are overrepresented by political power. Posts were full of evangelical christians who wanted to move to Uganda or Malawi where there was "true" Christian paradise without all these faggots getting equal rights...
Magnum when I see present republicans I see evangelical right wing extremists having much closer to the European fascism of the 1920's and far from moderate, internationally respected party of Reagan or Eisenhower. Religion is a private matter and does not belong to politics. I do not care about anyone religion as it is not forced upon me. The same is for me sexuality, which belongs to bedroom and not in public regardless it is gay or straight. Free love tree hugging hippies are nothing for me either. Current GOP creed feels to me who does not agree with us is against and must be leftist, liberal, etc. which I am not. I love army and support it. I am against socialized economy and welfare as way of living which many D are pushing. World is far too complex than from the isolated communities of the flyover counties by population that see the time through 1950's glasses. Either way, believing in "D" and "R" as way to solve everything is illusion. It is politics and game. Nothing more. Politicians from every spectrum do not care about you nor have any other interest from you than get your vote. This was known to Founding Fathers or French political philosophers of the 18th century. Also find out what Thomas Paine though of minimum or living wage 220 years ago... What USA needs is moderate party. When democracy goes limps only on left or right, there is always a problem.
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Niveau
Magnum: Nope, studies have actually found the opposite.
A meta-study of 64 studies conducted in 2009 found that "minimum wages may simply have no effect on employment" or that "minimum-wage effects might exist, but they may be too difficult to detect and/or are very small."
Another meta-study, conducted by unrelated researchers and soon to be published, looked at 27 minimum wage studies published since 2000 and found "no statistically significant negative employment effects" of raising it.
Source: the Center for Economic and Policy Research
Besides which, the current reality is that minimum-wage jobs are no longer just starting points, and that, regardless of character, a lot of people are currently unable to work their way out of them. Much as I wish these facts weren't true, current policies need to reflect current realities, not the way things *should* be.
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AFRIKANMAN
When I saw the title I thought you were gonna tell us about your "activity" in a Strip club !
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Band on the Run
I am a Democrat activist. People term me very bright and sophsiticated. I studied politcal science and law. The reform branch of the Democratic party is composed on blue dog Democrats as well as Dennis Kucinich types. The main attraction to the party for me over decades has been that it supports my life style choices. Democrats tend not to burn books, restrict the First Amendment, and reach out to all minorities. The financial district crowd in Manhattan is most blue dog Democrat. We are probusiness but also believe in necessary governmental regulation. Science is admired as is creativity in all its forms. I am proud to be an active member of the party.
We believe in the Federal Reserve and the SEC, no matter how inconvenient. The Justice Department gets high marks. With the exception of the NSA spying and collecting data even from turned off cell phones, Obama has moved foreign policy forward. Public officials are human. I have access to top leaders of both parties if I need it. I have needed it for extraordinarily bad circumstances.
The benefit of registering as a party member is it entitles you to vote in the party's primary when candidates who stand no chance of being elected in a general election try to tilt the party on an ideological basis. I remain always aware of what Independents are willing to endorse. The pendulum keeps swinging back and forth in American politics. We are a centrist country which may be a good thing. There are many ideas from truly conservative scholars that I embrace. If you want to live the way GOP members do (and I do not want their social issues), vote for a Democrat. Too many Americans term themselves middle class when they are teetering on poverty and basically disenfranchised in basic terms.
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DJS
Niveau,
Ditto. I have the same data. Refusing to support minimum wage hikes or living wage laws is a tactic to keep people down and keep the rich getting richer. The argument has never been supported by the data. Note this article from July.
Job growth picks up in states that raised the minimum wage. Published July 19, 2014 Associated Press
WASHINGTON – Maybe a higher minimum wage isn't so bad for job growth after all.
The 13 U.S. states that raised their minimum wages at the beginning of this year are adding jobs at a faster pace than those that did not, providing some counter-intuitive fuel to the debate over what impact a higher minimum has on hiring trends.
Many business groups argue that raising the minimum wage discourages job growth by increasing the cost of hiring. A Congressional Budget Office report earlier this year lent some support for that view. It found that a minimum wage of $10.10 an hour, as President Obama supports, could cost 500,000 jobs nationwide.
But the state-by-state hiring data, released Friday by the Labor Department, provides ammunition to those who disagree. Economists who support a higher minimum say the figures are encouraging, though they acknowledge they don't establish a cause and effect. There are many possible reasons hiring might accelerate in a particular state.
"It raises serious questions about the claims that a raise in the minimum wage is a jobs disaster," said John Schmitt, a senior economist at the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research. The job data "isn't definitive," he added, but is "probably a reasonable first cut at what's going on."
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Simon
We are a centrist country which may be a good thing.
I don't agree with that. It doesn't average out and it seems that there is less of a center and more polarized opinions and partizanship on practically every issue nowadays.
Interesting how the protests in Taiwan are because they don't like the system of having a limited number of pre-selected party-approved candidates to chose from. It sounds very like the American system but seems to be accepted there as 'democracy'
Lots of countries have similar systems to varying degrees but the US two-parties seem to have too much power that leads to corruption and lobbyist control. The politicians seem to answer to them more than the electorate now.
More independents would be a good thing.
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Simon
Sounds like a long day Hortensia, hope you enjoyed it
Do you think Canada would take me? I'm kind of old and broken down, but also kind of cute and I don't cause any trouble.
Canada takes everyone - they even let me in !
Just mention my name when you get to the border and use the secret phrase "I love hockey and donuts EH!" and you'll be in no problem.
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zeb
"the best argument against democracy is a five minute discussion with the average voter".. Churchill
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Hortensia
Thanks Simon. I might just show up in Canada one of these days.
Zeb, very cool quote.