lpret's Journal: Elections coming...

I like to research a lot when I'm looking at elections -- starting early to see whether they stand out on some issues or not. I especially enjoy watching the non-incumbant (what are they called?) race with 5+ people all trying to win the party's nomination. They affect each other's views and each other's handling of situations.

We've seen how Bush does it, so let's look at the Democrats. I must say, for Democrats I favour Howard Dean. I think he's far enough away from Bush in terms of liberalism, but since he is a physician he comes across as very learned and deliberate in his actions. Not to say that those two stances are mutually exclusive, but you get the point.

I found it interesting to read his website and see what he had to say on several issues. I've started reading more in-depth into his health care idea, and I have to say I like it. Our country has always been founded on the principle of: if you got money, you'll take care of yourself. And if you have money left over, take care of others. However, people aren't doing that. And they inherently won't. They'll buy their Ferrarri's and Aston Martins. They'll buy that 2nd beach house in Bermuda. And it's not wrong, it's just against the idea of voluntary wealth distribution. As we start to realize more that we need to take care of everyone, we have found ourselves going against the laissez-faire and capitalist urges that our nation has always had. So we might as well jump in instead of sticking our toes in, then our angles, then our knees, etc. that takes long and people suffer in the meantime.

However, I'm not sure it's going to work out for them. Dean's goals and ideas appeal to the lower to low-middle class people. Although their votes count just as much as Bill Gates' vote, it's all about marketing. So Dean needs to appeal to the upper class and corporations to win, and I just don't see him pulling that off. You're more likely to see someone like Lieberman be able to do that, a more laid-back guy. But Lieberman would struggle with any dealings with the Middle East since he's Jewish and every Arab country would cry foul play.

So, let me know what candidate you like (I don't want to hear anything about Bush, we can see him in action right now) or any information you think it would be good to know about a particular candidate.

Dean

[pbox]

I favor Dean too. I like his stance in Iraq, while he is not a pacifist. He was against Vietnam, while he did support the first Iraq war and Kosovo.

I think he is a lot less liberal he comes across. We will see if he can manage to bring his image across during the primaries.

I am not sure about your classification of his voter-base. I think he does appeal to middle and upper-middle class educated voters as well (at least in CA :-).

I keep my fingers crossed for him, and once in a while go and donate some mo

Im a Libertarian, but....

[Dr Reducto]

Im a Libertarian, but I have to warn you that it is not looking good for Dem's in 2004. 66% of democrats sampled could not identify a single Democratic candidate for President. This will make it hard to concentrate the efforts of the party. In addition, since Bush still has so much support, the DNC does not want to waste any *really* strong candidates, such as Hillary, or Dean. Al Sharpton will have a chance though.