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Deadline to Register to Vote is TODAY, Monday, October 23rd!
Today is the LAST DAY to register for the upcoming election. You might not know how you're going to vote now, but you won't have the opportunity to take action if you don't register at all.
If you haven't gotten your voter's guide in the mail yet, that means you're probably not registered. If you've moved since the last elelction and haven't re-registered, you need to do so TODAY in order to be eligible for the next election.
Here is what you should do:
Go to your nearest post office or library and pick up a voter registration form (it's large-sized with black, red and light green print on white cardstock). If they are out, go straight to the County Building downtown. Go to the Elections Office where you can fill out the form there and turn it in right there. (County Building is located at Water and Ocean Street in Santa Cruz.)
IF YOU fill in the form and want to send it in, it MUST be postmarked by today. That means you should be sure that you turn in somewhere before the designated mail pickup time.
Even though voting can sometimes seem disappointing when things we believe in don't pass and decent politicians don't get elected, it is important to exercise your rights, even in the face of corruption. There are people who are working overtime to encourage people NOT to vote.... voting can serve as an act of resistance in the face of this kind of well-financed oppression.
*******************************************************************************
There are a lot really important issues at stake in this next election.
Locally, there is....
Santa Cruz's
-Measure G - would raise minimum wage to $9.25/hr.
-Measure I - promote sustainable growth by opposing the negative impacts of proposed university growth
-Measure K - lowest law enforcement priority for marijuana use offenses
City Council...
-time for some changes!
At the state level, there are some very important races taking place.
The Governor has an enormous impact on our environment, education, labor and unions.
Don't be fooled by Arnold's recent overtures. He is not an outstanding environmentalist (Angelides got The Sierra Club and other major environmental groups endorsement) and he is still anti-union, anti-pension. Angelides has pledged to make bringing back the California National Guard from Iraq his number one priority if elected.
A lot of people from Santa Cruz think that Bruce McPherson is just dandy, but as Secretary of State, he has ignored the will of the people regarding unstable electronic voting machines, allowing their use despite a loud public outcry. Debra Bowen has taken him on with this issue and has made securing our elections her top priority.
Statewide measures:
Prop. 87 - would fund alternative energy research and tax petrol products in California. We really need this. About fifteen years ago. Even so, its crucial we support this.
Prop. 89 - the Clean Elections Measure would finance political campaigns so our politicians *might* actually work for the people, rather than be dependent on corporate contributions for their campaigns. This should be a no-brainer, but unfortunately some unions are opposing it. This is way overdue and is being fought with big money.
Wouldn't it be great to vote Dianne Feinstein's ass out of office? It doesn't look like that is going to happen, so why not vote for a good third party candidate, such as Todd Chretien or Marsha Feinland? Please read what they have to say.
Also, the Green Party Candidate for State Insurance Commissioner is Larry Cafiero from Ben Lomond. He's got a lot of good ideas, is a very capable individual and is deserving of support. Check out his info. at http://www.votecafiero.com/statement.
There are more, but you won't be able to do anything about them unless you are able to vote!
Here is what you should do:
Go to your nearest post office or library and pick up a voter registration form (it's large-sized with black, red and light green print on white cardstock). If they are out, go straight to the County Building downtown. Go to the Elections Office where you can fill out the form there and turn it in right there. (County Building is located at Water and Ocean Street in Santa Cruz.)
IF YOU fill in the form and want to send it in, it MUST be postmarked by today. That means you should be sure that you turn in somewhere before the designated mail pickup time.
Even though voting can sometimes seem disappointing when things we believe in don't pass and decent politicians don't get elected, it is important to exercise your rights, even in the face of corruption. There are people who are working overtime to encourage people NOT to vote.... voting can serve as an act of resistance in the face of this kind of well-financed oppression.
*******************************************************************************
There are a lot really important issues at stake in this next election.
Locally, there is....
Santa Cruz's
-Measure G - would raise minimum wage to $9.25/hr.
-Measure I - promote sustainable growth by opposing the negative impacts of proposed university growth
-Measure K - lowest law enforcement priority for marijuana use offenses
City Council...
-time for some changes!
At the state level, there are some very important races taking place.
The Governor has an enormous impact on our environment, education, labor and unions.
Don't be fooled by Arnold's recent overtures. He is not an outstanding environmentalist (Angelides got The Sierra Club and other major environmental groups endorsement) and he is still anti-union, anti-pension. Angelides has pledged to make bringing back the California National Guard from Iraq his number one priority if elected.
A lot of people from Santa Cruz think that Bruce McPherson is just dandy, but as Secretary of State, he has ignored the will of the people regarding unstable electronic voting machines, allowing their use despite a loud public outcry. Debra Bowen has taken him on with this issue and has made securing our elections her top priority.
Statewide measures:
Prop. 87 - would fund alternative energy research and tax petrol products in California. We really need this. About fifteen years ago. Even so, its crucial we support this.
Prop. 89 - the Clean Elections Measure would finance political campaigns so our politicians *might* actually work for the people, rather than be dependent on corporate contributions for their campaigns. This should be a no-brainer, but unfortunately some unions are opposing it. This is way overdue and is being fought with big money.
Wouldn't it be great to vote Dianne Feinstein's ass out of office? It doesn't look like that is going to happen, so why not vote for a good third party candidate, such as Todd Chretien or Marsha Feinland? Please read what they have to say.
Also, the Green Party Candidate for State Insurance Commissioner is Larry Cafiero from Ben Lomond. He's got a lot of good ideas, is a very capable individual and is deserving of support. Check out his info. at http://www.votecafiero.com/statement.
There are more, but you won't be able to do anything about them unless you are able to vote!
For more information:
http://www.votescount.com
Add Your Comments
Comments
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If voting could change anything, it would be illegal. When you participate in this spectacle (and you do know it's a spectacle, you just hope to cause a tiny little reform here or there with your pathetic inactions), you give legitimacy to it, surrendering your own power of self-determination and autonomy. It's painful to suffer bosses and governments and laws; it's even stupider to pick them.
It may be pretty hard to change things at the national or state level, but locally we "the people" CAN change things by voting -- especially in relatively more progressive places like Santa Cruz, and elsewhere in much of Northern California. (And since we're visiting the polling station anyway, we might as well vote against the two-party duopoly while we're there, by voting for the Green and/or Peace & Freedom candidates, for the various national and state offices).
If we can make our local cities (relatively) more progressive by voting, it will make it that much easier for us to live in them -- while we try to figure out how to take on the bigger tasks of the state and the nation, etc., etc....
And it only takes about 15 or 30 minutes every two years.....
If we can make our local cities (relatively) more progressive by voting, it will make it that much easier for us to live in them -- while we try to figure out how to take on the bigger tasks of the state and the nation, etc., etc....
And it only takes about 15 or 30 minutes every two years.....
If voting doesn't matter at all, then why are you working so hard at discouraging people from voting? If it's merely harmless as you purport, then why don't you just let people indulge themselves? Live and let live. What is it that is motivating you to take time out from your busy day, get on the internet and write about this supposedly meaningless activity?
Just makes me curious.
Just makes me curious.
Chomsky has expressed a perspective that it is really important to worry about the small standard-of-living differences that result from the differences between the two major parties. It can result in more real suffering for real people, even if there isn't much ideological difference between the republicans and democrats. So he and other lefties have actually come out to endorse Kerry in the 2004 election.
Their argument is that contrary to the idea used by revolutionary communists who favored letting things get really bad so that the proletariat isn't 'comfortable' and is angry enough to strike back, they point out that most of the periods of progressive change occurred when there was a large prosperous middle class that had resources and was no longer accepting of unfair authoritarian rule. The prime example would be the 1966-1968 period. This was the time of perhaps the largest middle class in U.S. history, (I would say this resulted from the fortunes of the rich of the 1920s being wiped out during the depression and WWII, and then in the 50s and 60s, all these men were able to get ahead and go to college, and prices of houses and other items weren't that high because there were proportionally fewer rich people to drive up the prices). In the early 60s there was a large middle class but the extreme racism and sexism and irrational societal rules were still in place, but the 'brady bunch' comfortable kids who were turning 18 had the resources to be able to gel together and reject this stuff - thus the 70s were far more progressive than the immediate postwar period. People who are economically stressed don't have the resources to do this even if they are far more familiar with the problem.
Their argument is that contrary to the idea used by revolutionary communists who favored letting things get really bad so that the proletariat isn't 'comfortable' and is angry enough to strike back, they point out that most of the periods of progressive change occurred when there was a large prosperous middle class that had resources and was no longer accepting of unfair authoritarian rule. The prime example would be the 1966-1968 period. This was the time of perhaps the largest middle class in U.S. history, (I would say this resulted from the fortunes of the rich of the 1920s being wiped out during the depression and WWII, and then in the 50s and 60s, all these men were able to get ahead and go to college, and prices of houses and other items weren't that high because there were proportionally fewer rich people to drive up the prices). In the early 60s there was a large middle class but the extreme racism and sexism and irrational societal rules were still in place, but the 'brady bunch' comfortable kids who were turning 18 had the resources to be able to gel together and reject this stuff - thus the 70s were far more progressive than the immediate postwar period. People who are economically stressed don't have the resources to do this even if they are far more familiar with the problem.
For those of you who may be interested, here are the voter guides from UC Student Association and the local version from GSA.
http://www2.ucsc.edu/gsa/UCSAvoterguide.pdf
http://www2.ucsc.edu/gsa/GSAvoterguide.pdf
There's also a very good one-page guide to all State-wide ballot measures here:
http://www.electioninfo.org
http://www2.ucsc.edu/gsa/UCSAvoterguide.pdf
http://www2.ucsc.edu/gsa/GSAvoterguide.pdf
There's also a very good one-page guide to all State-wide ballot measures here:
http://www.electioninfo.org
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