First Time Voter! Just need some info...

[alexmanners]

I'm still deciding who to vote for, and if I should vote at all. I'm not particularly thrilled with either candidate AND I don't want to start a huge debate flame war or anything, I just want some facts about the candidates or where I can learn more about them, Thanks!

[jayhawk]

I do not blame you for not being thrilled about neither candidate, in my opinion Senators make lousy Presidents. But, I am assuming that you know the basic differences between Republicans and Democrats, so here is there websites highlighting what they stand for.

John McCain:
http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/

Barack Obama:
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/

Bob Barr:
http://www.bobbarr2008.com/issues/

This way you can compare and contrast. As you can see, I have included Libertarian Bob Barr. Not many Americans know what a Libertarian is, some basic info can be found here.

Should you vote? Yes. We as Americans have become lazy and complacent, and because average Americans are voting less, we get results like the do-nothing Congress. If you encourage one person to vote, than that person will encourage others, and so on and so on.

Vote for the person you feel the strongest bond to, the one who agrees with your sensibilities and rationale, not with who is the most popular at the time of election day. Stick with your principles!

I myself am a Libertarian, and I vehemently oppose any liberal or socialist ideals in this country. But, I am open minded, and will listen and respect the opinion of others, no matter their political outlook.

[LeVeL]

You really have to do your own research. This thread is just going to start off with one-sided threads praising one candidate and asking how you could possibly consider voting for the other and then it will turn into a flame-fest. I definately understand your concern, I'm in the same boat, but I just dont think anything good will come out of this thread.
With that said, Google presidential candidate quizzes or just presidential candidate issues.

[alexmanners]

Alright thanks a lot guys! And I like the way that Libertarians think... maybe I should be voting that way! But again thanks for the help.

[Aircooled]

I find each candidate sort of... meh. Although with the selection of biden for VP the obama ticket becomes less attractive. I really don't like biden, he comes off as smug as well as an ass (not to pun the party logo lol ).

[unknownunknowns]

Since you claim to be a Libertarian, then you would be voting for Bob Barr. But because he has NO CHANCE of winning whatsoever, then it's either McCain or Obama. Since you "vehemently oppose any liberal or socialist ideals in this country", don't you think McCain is LESS LIKELY to implement those socialistic policies than Obama. Won't you GET MORE of what YOU WANT from McCain than Obama? You can't get everything you want.

[Jacobfox]

What the hell are you on about? We've all known for quite a while that Jayhawk is as vehemently anti-Obama as I am vehemently pro-Obama. I don't agree with him, but I entirely respect his right to have his own opinion.

In other words, don't stir up the pot in this thread. There's no need to be making accusations.

[Seasonone]

Please don't vote for a Libertarian because somebody on the internet with an obvious bias posted a website with ideas that "sound nice" if you're going to throw away a vote (4% of the vote doesn't come close) you might as well take a fairly long political test to see who matches your views than write in who comes up #1.

Like it or not, we have a 2 party system it's going to be McCain or Obama.

[jayhawk]

Originally Posted by unknownunknowns

Since you claim to be a Libertarian, then you would be voting for Bob Barr. But because he has NO CHANCE of winning whatsoever, then it's either McCain or Obama.

Originally Posted by Seasonone

Like it or not, we have a 2 party system it's going to be McCain or Obama.

You are right; I do have a bias towards a political party that is currently a minority. If you know you're history though; sometimes the little awkward party can become the dominant party. An example would be the national socialists in Germany from 1920-1933.
STOP AND READ BEFORE YOU AIM YOUR CURSOR TOWARDS THE REPLY BUTTON. Let's be smart about this.

I am in no way saying that the Libertarian movement equals nazism; quite the opposite, in fact. My goal in the first post I made in this thread was to give information to the OP. Since not many have heard of the Libertarian party, I gave him further info on it.
I cannot force others to think like me, but rather, if I hand a key over that a person can use as they see fit, then my mission is accomplished.
Hell, if there was, I would give him information on the communist party Presidential nominee.

[Jacobfox]

Part of the shame of our current two-party system is that nobody really gets their views encompassed perfectly by any one candidate. For example, try to pigeon-hole this guy: I met with a friend of a friend today who is a Friedman-based economist, so he's heavily into free markets, but he's also an environmentalist. His notion is that a free market system can be all things to all people. Where does he fit?

Admittedly, once you start breaking everything down into itty bitty subcategories and making parties for each one, you get some insane and inane government like the UPA here in India.

[Cobol74]

I feel Mr Excel Spreadsheet coming on - Key Policies as one axis, ones weightings the positions of both (or all three?) parties scored out of say 10. Next in a cell score each party and multiply by a rating and place in another cell total and vote for the one with the biggest score - ta da. ....

Or listen to the adverts and vote for the white/black guy.

Or toss a coin.

But Vote. If you do not vote we will be back saying you had your chance and threw it away you get the Monarchy back - bye bye Presidents. ... (what do you mean you could do worse - oh you Canadians. ...)

[Censport]

Originally Posted by Jacobfox

Part of the shame of our current two-party system is that nobody really gets their views encompassed perfectly by any one candidate. For example, try to pigeon-hole this guy: I met with a friend of a friend today who is a Friedman-based economist, so he's heavily into free markets, but he's also an environmentalist. His notion is that a free market system can be all things to all people. Where does he fit?

Admittedly, once you start breaking everything down into itty bitty subcategories and making parties for each one, you get some insane and inane government like the UPA here in India.

Well, there's environmentalism, and then there's environmentalism. I consider myself a right-wing conservative, by American political standards (grew up on Goldwater, Buckley and Reagan), but I'm a responsible environmentalist. None of this chicken little sky-is-falling fear-mongering, but I don't waste resources (mainly to keep my cost-of-living manageable). The thing is, someone can be environmantelly responsible without politicizing it, and recognize that Al Gore is a full of $#!t profiteering hypocrite. The problem is that the anti-capitalists have invaded the "green" movement, and are making their Mao and Marx statues from sustainable hemp.

On Bob Barr: Interesting that he's running as a libertarian, since he's never been one before. Neal Boortz is more of what I have in mind for libertarians.

Before you can decide on a candidate, you have to figure out what's important to you. Balancing the budget/reducing the deficit? Abortion? Illegal immigration? Trade? War?

McCain voted with the Democrats so often that his lifetime ACU rating is a lowly 83. (http://www.conservative.org/archive2/2008potus.asp) Yet on some rather significant issues, he's the polar opposite of Obama. Reducing the budget/deficit, for example. McCain hasn't requested a single penny in earmark spending (additional bills attached to main bills being proposed, typically having nothing to do with the main bill), while Obama requested $740 million in just three years, and has proposed almost $1 trillion ($1,000,000,000,000) in increased spending if he gets elected.

But hey, I'm biased. You need to research for yourself, and always check for multiple sources.

[Nabster]

Can I throw something out there?

Take what you know about political parties- democrats, republicans, whatever-the-hell-else-there-is, etc. and throw all that out the window. You should vote based on what candidate best represents your own values and wants, regardless of that candidates political affiliations. I really don't understand people that vote blindly for whomever is "their party." Not only is it ignorant, it's stupid- the whole idea is to vote for whom you want because you agree with them.

Yes, it will require you to research everyone, but thats probably for the better. Now if only everyone would take the time to determine who is best for them.

[Censport]

Another thing to remember is to look past what the candidate says they're about and what they promise now that the national spotlight is upon them, and look at what they've done in the past. "Actions speak louder than words", and all that.

[LeVeL]

Originally Posted by Nabster

You should vote based on what candidate best represents your own values and wants, regardless of that candidates political affiliations. I really don't understand people that vote blindly for whomever is "their party." Not only is it ignorant, it's stupid- the whole idea is to vote for whom you want because you agree with them.

+1. I just dont understand people that vote for a party, rather than for a candidate. My problem currently is that neither candidate represents my "values and wants".

Originally Posted by Censport

Another thing to remember is to look past what the candidate says they're about and what they promise now that the national spotlight is upon them, and look at what they've done in the past. "Actions speak louder than words", and all that.

+1. Candidates will say ANYTHING in order to get elected. Half the time what they say today is the exact opposite of what they said tomorrow but they are speaking to a different audience this time.

[toproy]

Originally Posted by Aircooled

I find each candidate sort of... meh. Although with the selection of biden for VP the obama ticket becomes less attractive. I really don't like biden, he comes off as smug as well as an ass (not to pun the party logo lol ).

I am in the same spot. Even though I am 34, this will be my first vote also since I just 2 years ago became a citizen.

I feel exactly the same.... meh...

Sad to say.

Very nice VW engine by the way. I owned a 1600 and a classic 1968 and gotta love those little cars. The main reason I ended up buying a Porshe instead of anything else for my mid life crisis car is because of the love I had for that little blue VW that took me to college, not matter what. It never ever let me down.

[tigger]

Originally Posted by jayhawk

Should you vote? Yes. We as Americans have become lazy and complacent, and because average Americans are voting less, we get results like the do-nothing Congress. If you encourage one person to vote, than that person will encourage others, and so on and so on.

Well, there's an upside and a downside to this. Certainly people should vote (they've got a right to, after all) and more importantly; vote based on an informed comparison of candidates. The problem is of course that most people are not informed. I'd just as soon have them stay home.

As for voting based on party lines, there's something to be said for that too. Say you're a democrat but you don't particularly like their nominated presidential candidate. You'd rather vote for someone else. But then you have to consider who will probably be controlling the Congress. If the democrats will control the Senate, then backing their candidate will in all likelihood get more of the party's agenda accomplished.

Then again, there was no way in hell I would've voted for Kerry in '04 . It's like the democrats wanted to lose that race. I probably just wrote in my own name or something stupid.

[toproy]

[quote=tigger;773475]It's like the democrats wanted to lose that race.QUOTE]

I couldn't agree with this more.

[jayhawk]

Originally Posted by toproy

I am in the same spot. Even though I am 34, this will be my first vote also since I just 2 years ago became a citizen.

Please do! It is now your right, exercise it!

[Momentum57]

Originally Posted by Seasonone

Please don't vote for a Libertarian because somebody on the internet with an obvious bias posted a website with ideas that "sound nice" if you're going to throw away a vote (4% of the vote doesn't come close) you might as well take a fairly long political test to see who matches your views than write in who comes up #1.

Like it or not, we have a 2 party system it's going to be McCain or Obama.

As a New Yorker all of my electoral votes go to Democrats and crookedly I might add. During the primaries they said that my district was equally split between Obama and Clinton according to mathematicians a statistical improbability. Voting for a third party is the best way to send a message of hope to America. We are not Red or Blue we are all purple and would love to see more money go to alternative parties.