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How Do You Choose?

October 30th, 2010

I must admit I get really annoyed this time of year by political ads in the mailbox, signs on every corner, and commercials on TV (so glad I don’t have cable any more so I don’t have to hear them). Every day I open a mailbox full of fliers, and most of them are negative. I wish there were something like CatalogChoice.org for political mailings.

I wonder if these ads actually do anything, are people swayed by them? I know I’m more put off than anything, especially if the flier is negative. One local senator has been sending a flier almost every week for the past 6 months telling us how great he is and how much good he’s doing. In the small print on the back of each flier is says “This mailing was prepared, published, and mailed at taxpayer expense”. You can believe he’s not getting my vote for wasting all my tax money telling me how great he is.

The older I get and the more I read about campaign funding and revolving door politics, the less political party affiliation affects my voting choices. I agree with different ideologies from many parties and find myself not really falling into any one. I focus on areas that are important to me, mostly agriculture and food. When I try to figure out who I’m going to vote for, I spend some time online looking up who’s funding each politician and their previous jobs and spouses jobs. I find a lot of great information on OpenSecrets.com as well as a few other places. Generally I vote for whoever gets the least amount of corporate funding. If all candidates get lots of corporate funding, I usually vote for those that aren’t getting money from companies like Cargill, Monsanto, Syngenta, GE and big pharma companies.

How do you choose who you’re going to vote for? Do ads and fliers sway you to one candidate or another?

16 Comments to “How Do You Choose?”
  1. David Bentz on October 30, 2010 at 10:16 am

    Most political candidates have a history from either previous politics or from community actions. I watch what they do and not what they say.

    Reply to David Bentz's comment

    • Susy on October 30, 2010 at 10:46 am

      Yes, I often look up their voting records as well.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  2. 1916home.net on October 30, 2010 at 10:17 am

    I do not vote anymore. Both parties are controlled. Take care of yourself and your family first! And we all know the good Chiots are doing just that!

    Reply to 1916home.net's comment

  3. iris on October 30, 2010 at 11:50 am

    My choices are usually pretty simple, entirely determined by the candidate’s pro-choice/life positions, sex-ed education stance, stem cell research beliefs, attitudes toward science, etc.

    I don’t worry too much about promises or attack ads.

    Reply to iris's comment

  4. amy manning on October 30, 2010 at 12:39 pm

    I wish we could just do away with political parties and vote on each election as individual.

    I usually end up voting for the person who doesn’t have horrible attack ads plastered all over the place.

    Reply to amy manning's comment

  5. Shannon on October 30, 2010 at 1:00 pm

    I am totally fed up with political phone calls and fliers as well. Just this morning my peaceful piano time with Pachelbel’s Canon in D was interrupted by the phone ringing. I picked it up to hear “Hello, Shannon, this is Mitt Romney.” I almost screamed (both scary and annoying).

    I was on board with the Ron Paul campaign during the last election, but otherwise I actually choose not to vote. I know it raises a firestorm of “you have to vote, it’s unpatriotic not to.” I disagree. Many times the highest form of patriotism is protest, and I refuse to vote for the lesser of two evils, when in the end they are both evil (and less different than they like to claim).

    I try to make political change every day through my choices, lifestyle, and pocketbook. Most people don’t realize that they may make one vote at the ballot box, but whatever they choose to support with their dollars is an even more powerful vote.

    Reply to Shannon's comment

  6. Kathryn on October 30, 2010 at 1:11 pm

    We are having a very ugly race here in CA. I do watch TV, & am so sick of the smear ads on TV for Governor & Senate. Not one of those candidates will be getting my vote.

    My big complaint is that no one ever hears from the independents until a week before the election when the local paper runs info on ALL the candidates. But most people think, “They could never win” & votes a party line.

    I did that once, but i’ll never do it again, even if i “waste” my vote. If it is an incumbent running, i will look at their voting record. If they voted in a responsible manner, i will vote for them again. Otherwise, it is largely independent candidates who will get my vote. If enough of us made these votes, then we would NOT be wasting votes.

    The current two party system is not serving us well. We’ve created an elite in this country who think they know better than the rest of us, but many of the laws they vote into the record are not laws by which they have to live. Many of these folks are career politicians who have never had to live on a normal income & don’t have a clue about living by a budget. They think they know better than the rest of us what is “good” although they themselves are often exempt.

    I think it is time to do away with career politicians & to shake up Washington & the smugness of these unholy candidates.

    Yeah. I feel strongly about this!

    Reply to Kathryn's comment

  7. Wendy on October 30, 2010 at 3:42 pm

    As mentioned previously – generally sanctity of Human Life issues/Moral/Family issues. No – the ads generally don’t sway me as I am generally already decided on the major ones. I agree – party affiliations don’t generally guarantee conservative/liberal necessarily slant. I did appreciate Huckabee in the last election! Thankfully- no TV – so no attack ads, we do get a large number of phone calls -but with caller id – we just don’t answer anymore.

    Reply to Wendy's comment

  8. Kim on October 30, 2010 at 7:25 pm

    moral and family issues are the only ones that matter to me. all other decisions flow out of those, I think.

    Reply to Kim's comment

  9. MAYBELLINE on October 30, 2010 at 11:05 pm

    Like Katheryn, I’m here in California looking forward to November 3 when all this junk will be over. Unlike Katheryn, I will be voting against a candidate for governor because I have already lived through his governorship in the 1970’s. I don’t believe that I’m swayed by the mail adds at all because I don’t read them. They are all shredded and recycled.

    I make my choices by studying the issues for the propositions and learning what I can about the candidates. I am not tied to any party whatsoever.

    I do encourage all adult Americans to register to vote and educate yourself on the issues. Voting is a wonderful privilege that isn’t enjoyed everywhere.

    Ladies – we have only had the right to vote for 90 years.

    Reply to MAYBELLINE's comment

    • Kathryn on October 31, 2010 at 11:42 am

      Have you checked out Nightingale? You could vote for her, vote against the candidate of whom you are speaking, & maybe we’d actually get a good governor.

      Reply to Kathryn's comment

  10. nic@nipitinthebud on October 31, 2010 at 4:26 am

    I go by who’s making a difference in my local community. One party is very active in our area (he lives in the ward he represents which makes a big difference I think). He sends newsletters out about the pot holes in the road they fix, the funding they get to improve childrens’ play areas, the street cleaning they arrange. All very small scale stuff in the grand scheme of things but makes a massive difference to us on a daily basis. I switch off entirely when other parties newsletters just moan about what other’s aren’t doing without actually demonstrating any positive action themselves!

    Reply to nic@nipitinthebud's comment

  11. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by mark mile, Susy Morris. Susy Morris said: How Do You Choose? http://goo.gl/fb/kbLcN #miscellaneous #campaignfliers #politics #vote […]

    Reply to Tweets that mention How Do You Choose? | Chiot’s Run — Topsy.com's comment

  12. Kay on October 31, 2010 at 8:39 am

    We have a one body-two headed socialist system. It it is corrupted from the bottom up or top down – however you wish to see it. Nothing that is done anymore is based on Constitutional values. I read a quote that said that “Politicians are nothing more than ugly actors/actresses.” I wish I could remember who said that. How true.

    I vote for a third party candidates everytime.

    Reply to Kay's comment

  13. Kay on October 31, 2010 at 8:40 am

    Oh and for those of you who cannot wait until November 3rd for this junk to end – Sorry, it will only continue because everyone will now be campaigning for 2012! Gah!

    Reply to Kay's comment

    • MAYBELLINE on October 31, 2010 at 11:35 am

      Kay – your final yet truthful statement is appropriately posted on Halloween.

      Reply to MAYBELLINE's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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