Friday, August 31, 2007

vote in the texas eprimary!

Even though it seems like we'll be deciding our next president any day now considering the number of debates and the near-rabid attention the media is giving the race, the first votes won't be cast in the Democratic Primary until early next year.

Since more and more states are having earlier primaries and the de facto candidate is usually crowned before we ever hit the voting booth, the Texas Democratic Party is letting Texas Democrats pick their candidate now through an online poll: the TDP ePrimary poll.

Sure, it's unofficial and unscientific. But why not lend your favorite national ticket Democrat some support? It will be an informal sampling of the current mood of Texas Democrats, and who they may decide to support in the primary. But it won't work without enough people taking a couple of minutes to cast their vote.

Each candidate (excluding Obama, whose team instead offers a news widget) gives a personal message to Texas Democrats. Dennis Kucinich's message even comes in the form of a YouTube video.

Here are some excerpts:

"It is clear that Texans are ready for change, and I have the experience to bring about change in Washington. I am proud to have the support of elected officials and community leaders across Texas -- including Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and Congressmen Henry Cuellar and Ruben Hinojosa -- and I am asking for your help and support."
- Hillary Clinton


"It’s been an honor to get to know so many great Texas Democrats during this campaign and in my time as Governor of New Mexico. You know what I’ve done and where I stand. When I’m President, we’re going to get all of our troops out of Iraq—all of them."
- Bill Richardson


"In Texas and across the country, we face a crucial choice -- whether to do what America has always done in times like these – change direction and move boldly into the future or wander in the same stale direction we have traveled in our recent past."
-John Edwards
You can vote in the TDP ePrimary poll through Friday, Sept. 7. Daily tallies will be posted beginning Sept. 4.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

DO YOU AGREE ??

1. Taxes and Federal Budget: "Cutting tax rates in order to stimulate steady economic growth. This policy was not invented by neocons, and it was not the particularities of tax cuts that interested them, but rather the steady focus on economic growth." In Kristol's view, neocons are and should be less concerned about balancing fiscal budgets than traditional conservatives: "One sometimes must shoulder budgetary deficits as the cost (temporary, one hopes) of pursuing economic growth."[10]

2. Size of Government: Kristol distinguishes between Neoconservatives and the call of traditional conservatives for smaller government. "Neocons do not feel ... alarm or anxiety about the growth of the state in the past century, seeing it as natural, indeed inevitable."[10]

3. Traditional Moral Values: "The steady decline in our democratic culture, sinking to new levels of vulgarity, does unite neocons with traditional conservatives". Here Kristol distinguishes between traditional conservatives and libertarian conservatives. He cites the shared interest of Neocons and Religious Conservates in using the government to enforce morality: "Since the Republican party now has a substantial base among the religious, this gives neocons a certain influence and even power."[10]

4. Expansionist Foreign Policy: "Statesmen should ... distinguish friends from enemies." And according to Kristol, "with power come responsibilities ... if you have the kind of power we now have, either you will find opportunities to use it, or the world will discover them for you."[10]

5. National Interest: "the United States of today, inevitably ... [will] feel obliged to defend ... a democratic nation under attack from nondemocratic forces ...that is why it was in our national interest to come to the defense of France and Britain in World War II ... that is why we feel it necessary to defend Israel today."[


You might just be a neocon, which is not a bad word.