Yesterday, Your Humble Blogger came across a speech by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois), and I really enjoyed it. In particular, I thought she did a great update of Jesse Jackson's Common Ground Address at the Democratic National Convention in 1988 (find 'blanket' and read the next five paragraphs and if you don't get chills, check your pulse, you may be dead). She asks "Lawyers, judges, where are you? Seniors, where are you?" She says:
When I was director of the Illinois State Council of Senior Citizens, our group was chasing Dan Rostenkowski down the street. Seniors, now is the time to get on your running shoes. You should be chasing George W. Bush and Dick Cheney and Tom Delay all over the country.
We should. It's easy for me to complain, it's easy for me to blog my complaints. It's important to complain, because we have a lot to complain about. But it's also important to build. So. Let's get started on the 2004 elections. I'm going to start looking at the candidates seriously, and writing about them in some detail. I want your help, Gentle Readers all (or all who care about the electoral process, and getting Our Only President to be One of Many Ex-Presidents as soon as possible by that process) in learning about them, analyzing them, and supporting them. First is starting to learn, of course, so if anybody has a candidate they want to tell me about, a speech to point me to, a website, or anything I might find useful in this, send it along, either attached to this note or via email. I'll try to give some time to this, so don't expect the results tomorrow or perhaps next week, because I want to do this well.
When I write, I want to do something perhaps a little different than I would have done eight years ago. I want to ignore for now (just for now) the election, and the likelihood of the candidate being elected, in favor of judging what the candidate would be like as President. I want to note, but not emphasize, weaknesses, and I want to detail strengths. Ultimately, I want to compare the candidates strengths, and see how that affects what the world would be like under that leadership. Then, after that, after I've begun to understand a bit of it would be like if the various candidates won, then I'll go back and see if there's a path from here to there. Finally, I'll see if there's a way to smooth and widen that path, for any or all of them.
Once again, Your Humble Blogger wants to do this in concert with my Gentle Readers. Please send me information, and paths to more. If you have experience with one or another of the candidates, shout it out. In fact, if you want to write an entry, feel free to send it to me (by the way, anytime any of y'all want to write a blognote for this Tohu Bohu, send it along, and unless I veto it for some reason, I'll include it). Send me more readers with more ideas. Let's begin this process, let's get our participatory boots on and our civic fingernails dirty. Let's make the democracy we want to live in.
One good place to look, especially as the elections draw closer, is Project Vote Smart, a non-partisan organization dedicated to gathering information on candidates in all races, local and national.
It’s a nice place to find endorsements, position statements (when the candidates return the forms to the project, at any rate), searchable speeches, and interest group ratings. Not to mention voting records and campaign finance information. I also like seeing all the obscure little parties who have candidates for office. Who knew that there was a Hebrew Christian Party? A National Barking Spider Resurgence Party? Or Mike’s Party?
For that matter, who knew that there were Republicans running for President aside from Mr. Bush?
I’m afraid I’m getting a little silly, but I have found this site invaluable for finding useful information, especially local. From my past experience, it’s most helpful after the primaries, but it’s definitely good before then. It’s also got all kinds of links to general political information.
I like this information from their website:
“PVS was inaugurated in 1992 by national leaders as diverse as former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, former U.S. Senators Barry Goldwater and George McGovern, and former U.S. Representatives Newt Gingrich and Geraldine Ferraro. All Founding Board members must join with an ideological opposite to provide balance and ensure strict impartiality in PVS programs and materials.”
I want to ignore for now (just for now) the election, and the likelihood of the candidate being elected, in favor of judging what the candidate would be like as President.
This is how I always vote, too.
I was surprised to hear on NPR that Howard Dean has moved up enough to be “statistically tied with” John Kerry. I sometimes want to grumble at Mr. Dean, but by and large, he doesn’t vomit sound bites without content. This alone pleases me greatly…
Metasilk, I’m afraid that ultimately, my vote in the primary will be based in part on strategy (who can beat Bush), but I’m afraid I’ve fallen, over the years, into the trap of looking only at strategy. What I would like to do here is ignore strategy for now, knowing that I can always bring it back in later.
Nao, thanks for the Vote Smart link; I will be using it as a homebase for my forays. I’d forgotten about them over the years, so I should take another good long look at what they do and how. My recollection is that they were so scrupulous about neutrality that they avoided doing much research about the history of the candidates, and whether their answers were likely to be honest. To make myself happy about this business, I’m going to have to do substantial Lexis-Nexis searches, along with other backgroung checks, to see if the patterns of behaviour match the platforms.
As long as I’m making a long note, here are the categories I’m looking to fill for all the candidates:
I’m also planning on writing a Midterm retrospective of the first two years of the putative presidency for each candidate. Perhaps two of them, an optimistic and a pessimistic one. Does all this sound worthwhile?
Redintegro Iraq,
-V.
Well, if you have the time, I’d love to read it. 😉