Dave Short

I don’t like the idea of media outlets (which, technically, this blog is) telling people how they should vote. Choosing our representatives is an important, personal issue. People have to decide for themselves, and I consider it almost sanctimonious to tell people how to vote.

Before I reveal who I’m voting for, I only have one thing to say, and it’s this: our Congress has failed us completely and utterly. It is, as far as I’m concerned, the most cynical, lazy, corrupt, and craven legislative body we have ever had the misfortune of being represented by. When I read about how utterly poor a job the 109th Congress has performed, how insecure our democracy has become (and I am a constant defender of technology, by the way), what they will do to take away others’ votes, and how swiftly our basic liberties are being chipped away, it makes my blood boil. It would be funny if it weren’t so damn serious. Tomorrow is America’s chance to give these snakes, charlatans, pigs and cowards their performance reviews, and to tell them to get the hell out of our government.

Senate
I will be voting for Jon Tester. Conrad Burns has embarrassed Montanans too many times. From references to the ‘niggers’ in Washington, D.C. to his assertion that out-of-state volunteer firefighters are doing a ‘piss-poor job’, this bitter, shrivelled old fuck has let us down too often. He says he delivers for Montana, but Tester’s plan of attack — to get the appropriations we need without sneaking them is — is the kind of reformed thinking we need in Washington. Tester feels more honest, as well. I hear that Bush and Burns have a secret plan to end the war in Iraq… and we all know how well secret plans work out (*cough, cough,* Nixon). He’s also run a cleaner campaign. I am sick to death of all the political ads, but I’ve noticed that Tester’s ads occasionally do not attack Burns at all. Burns also pledged to only serve two terms (this would be term four, by the way), but now he has become the entrenched, stagnant Washington insider he swore we would never see. Finally, I have one word — Abramoff. If ever there were an embodiment of the sleaze that the Beltway encircles, it’s Burns.

House
Ah, how we have almost forgotten the lower house. All the attention has been focused on Burns and Tester. The fact that he voted for the Military Commissions Act alone is enough for me to want him out of office. The icing on the cake is that Lindeen touts independent thought and review for legislation, not towing the party line. Rehberg is not nearly as big a scoundrel as Burns, but his near-automatic approval of the Bush angenda makes me angry enough to want to boot him.

I am a strong believer in term limits; we need to give politicians a reason to justify their continued employment. And I don’t think that how long a candidate’s family has lived in their state matters much, either — Mansfield wasn’t a native, but look at the amazing things he did.

My politics fall well left of the Democratic party’s ‘safety zone’, but I am going to trust them this time around, to steer our miserable Houses into some direction besides ‘staying the course.’ In the end, you should vote after careful research of the facts, ignoring what the ads say, and with everyone (not just yourself) in mind. Please vote. It is, above all, our most important duty. The government represents us, after all, and we have a strong voice. Tomorrow, let it resound, from school gyms to University Commons to city halls, that, to quote Bob Dylan, “a hard rain’s a-gonna fall” and, to quote Twisted Sister, “we’re not gonna take it anymore.”