tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post8068211116169163877..comments2024-03-29T03:57:26.974-04:00Comments on Grim's Hall: On the PollsGrimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07543082562999855432noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-46483913934087951242012-10-30T10:05:33.267-04:002012-10-30T10:05:33.267-04:00Well, staying inside hasn't worked for me with...Well, staying inside hasn't worked for me with the Democratic Party. I just exist to remind them of what they used to believe. Grimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07543082562999855432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-90121081037571303722012-10-30T05:12:00.697-04:002012-10-30T05:12:00.697-04:00Ddr, I'd think about this- has the GOP moved t...Ddr, I'd think about this- has the GOP moved toward being more true to it's claimed conservative values in the last few years? Yes. Why? I'd suggest that the Tea Party is a big reason, and the fact that it didn't spawn a new third party, but instead gave voice to many in the GOP (and outside) who wanted a return to conservatism and constitutional government. This served to push the GOP to the right. You change a party from the inside, not from the outside. Just ask Ron and Rand Paul. Work to change the GOP, don't make a protest vote that no one will care about or remember unless it throws the election to someone, and then only for that.douglashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17261739259295914188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-54200828721322271682012-10-29T13:40:05.490-04:002012-10-29T13:40:05.490-04:00I don't feel that I have a real choice. This ...I don't feel that I have a real choice. This year, I chose to stop supporting "the lesser evil" and wrote in a candidate. I've been told that I'm terribly wrong and am throwing my vote away, but I have come to disagree. I feel that the limited system is wrong, and it will never change as long as the majority of Americans keep supporting it or abstaining. DdRnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-76924596005393226492012-10-28T17:26:13.050-04:002012-10-28T17:26:13.050-04:00Again, I don't think that's the case. How...Again, I don't think that's the case. However, <i>if</i> the government <i>had</i> successfully gerrymandered America such that electoral stability was a fact even when the people are extremely unhappy with every branch of the government, then it would be the case that the government was too stable for its own good. For then an electoral adjustment would not be possible. <br /><br />Instability arises when voters have a real choice -- for example, in the primary here in the 9th Congressional District, the situation was unstable because both candidates in the runoff were acceptable. It could have gone either way. When a district is gerrymandered to the point that there is only one candidate who is at all acceptable to the district's voters, then the outcome is not in doubt. Such a system is highly stable -- the election won't disrupt the power structure at all -- but not desirable. <br /><br />If we wake up in a week or two and find that the government is being returned essentially unchanged after this election (i.e., that these strange polls were right, as I do not expect is the case), we will have reason to worry about that. Grimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07543082562999855432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-76143868367023506032012-10-28T17:18:20.065-04:002012-10-28T17:18:20.065-04:00The government is too stable for its own good? I ...The government is too stable for its own good? I don't think it's a question of needing a change for the sake of change. I believe some policies work and others don't. I'd oppose change that would make it more likely for the bad policies to prevail; rather than that, I'd take another couple of years of status quo. The problem is that we don't have a consensus about what policies will work. We have a stalemate over which direction to change towards.Texan99https://www.blogger.com/profile/10479561573903660086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-20550027829120640142012-10-28T16:35:32.511-04:002012-10-28T16:35:32.511-04:00//steps back, tilts head and closes one eye and st...//steps back, tilts head and closes one eye and stares just a tad off axis at the poll(s), decides that it's a case of <i>same as it every was</i> then says//<br /><br />Those polls, they seem to be a might tilted, as is often the case.<br /><br />//returns to standby and waits anxiously for November 6th poll results//bthunhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15789441349826379510noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-72624679876271295192012-10-28T15:51:04.158-04:002012-10-28T15:51:04.158-04:00I suspect (and hope) that people have gotten very ...I suspect (and hope) that people have gotten very tired of the polls and of being berated when the polls do not support what the media/academia/intellectuals/beautiful people want. So they say, "I'm supporting so-and-so" and then will vote their conscience. <br /><br />LittleRed1 Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-38536472749171728652012-10-28T11:28:09.902-04:002012-10-28T11:28:09.902-04:00I don't think you're reading me correctly....I don't think you're reading me correctly. What I'm saying is that it's hard to believe the polls when they offer this picture. The suggestion of stability arising from the polls seems suspect on its face, given the recent wave elections.Grimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07543082562999855432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-16310802531827416112012-10-28T10:41:47.630-04:002012-10-28T10:41:47.630-04:00I'm truly sad about your pessimism on this but...I'm truly sad about your pessimism on this but I sincerely hope it's misplaced.<br /><br />Just read an article on this at Political Pistachio @ http://politicalpistachio.blogspot.com/2012/10/2012-election-map-prediction-political.html that just may change your mind. <br /><br />In addition, Good Government has more on the same.<br /><br />I'm praying with all my strength you are wrong. IMHO, we will see Pres Romney sworn in in January after the Senate swears in a GOP majority and the House GOP strengthens its numbers.<br /><br />I guess it's just that I have more faith in "common" Americans than you. They are already turning out to have their voices heard in disagreement with the last 4 years.<br /><br />Dale Dayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09040236779328386342noreply@blogger.com