A Non-political but political thread

In reply to SVreX:

County Council is $9k a year before taxes.

We really need to have a DC area get together.

In reply to bluej:

I'm down, any idea where? Sundays would be best for me.

While I didn't win, I learned alot, I will continue to seek new opportunities, learn new things, push myself, change myself, make mistakes and grow. I would encourage anybody to run, I think it is worth while and that local politics matter.

Well at least you walked away with some lessons learned. I keep telling my wife I'm going to run for a spot on the township's commissions board when the kids are old enough to occupy themselves. 

trigun7469 said:

I was running unopposed, but I still was able to learn a lot from those who had won and lost. The voter turnout was low at 24%, which was predicted a higher voter turnout because of the mayoral and county executive race. Those who were big on social media and using wording such as No more status qou, all of them lost except one who had a weak competitor. The same names with the big backers all won and the elderly population dominated as voters. I felt bad for many of the independent voters, who have a voice and are essentially bypassed in the Primaries.

(This isn't meant to touch off a debate just a look back on independent affiliations)

This kind of struck a cord with me. I registered independent the day I was eligible to vote. Being the person I was when I was 18, I thought there were enough problems with both sides that I couldn't agree with one side more than the other despite leaning a little in one direction so I'd remain aloof of the process.

After watching how the primary season unfolded in 2016 I changed to a major party affiliation. Yea I "sold out" to one side but now I get a say, however small, in who one of the sides ultimate candidate will be rather than simply accepting the increasingly polarizing options that are ultimately put up. It's just a small way of attempting to move the needle which I wouldn't have a say in otherwise.  I don't feel bad for independents since they're simply choosing not to play the game and complaining about the lack of choices instead of attempting to work the system.

trigun7469 said:

While I didn't win, I learned alot, I will continue to seek new opportunities, learn new things, push myself, change myself, make mistakes and grow. I would encourage anybody to run, I think it is worth while and that local politics matter.

Surprising, I voted for you at least 12 times! 

One of my assessments of political positions is that if you want the position you should be automatically excluded from it!  Obviously an overstatement (e.g. all cops are bad), but I am sure there is a bit of truth to it (e.g. the developers that get on the city council to get some property re-zoned, then make $ off the change)

In reply to The0retical :

I started out as an independent also, and like you realized that I was not getting much benefit from my vote.  So ~50 years ago I registered with a major party to be able to vote in the primaries.

Once I see who is running in the local and state races, I change my registration to whichever party I want to vote in the primary.  Most times I register so that I can vote for a particular candidate.

But I have also registered to vote in a primary where there is a candidate that I do not like but will probably win if they make it through the primary.  That way I can try to stop them from getting to the general election.

Boy did we have a humdinger here at Falls Church.
 

We had completely new election equipment.  The last of it was delivered 2 weeks before the election.  We didn't have any issues to really speak of and had record turnout for a non-federal election.

We also had a bond referendum that had people setting up ghost websites and paying for Facebook ads against it.

Fun times.

I did a couple terms on my neighborhood alliance board some years ago (Minneapolis has a neighborhood system, it sort of works like each neighborhood is a small town with its own city council, we would review and provide initial approval to things before they went to the main city council.)  

It was a lot more work than it should have been.  My impression was that as a political board got smaller, the level of snarky politics between board members increased.  Some people thought they were REALLY important.  

In reply to trigun7469 : I ran for Mayor of my city.  Interesting experience. The city I live in has most of the major movers and shakers in Minnesota.  Very wealthy upscale town run by the conservative elite.  

It cost $3.00 to file and until the last day I was unopposed.  I spoke to a couple of friends and neighbors who bought all my signs and paid for the advertisements.  

All I had to do was go out and talk to  people .  One meet the candidates put on by the league of women voters, that's when I met my opponent.  Frankly she was much more experienced than I was and listening to her I decided to vote for her.  I made a good case and most comments I heard was that I won the debate, but maybe she heard the same.  I had done my due diligence  and pointed out that it was time the city let loose the purse strings.  Our city had this years budget in the bank along with next years and had another years worth of income invested in bonds.  

But the city paid infrastructure was worn out and dated ( and not in a good way)  In addition our local school district was struggling financially and I suggested ways the city could help without breaking any rule or policy.  My thoughts were the schools had for decades improved the city property values. To maintain that trend would be nominally costly to the community but of a real benefit to the schools

In reply to The0retical : In a relatable story, my competitor who had lost twice before switching parties, as one party is very dominant in our district then the other. I knew coming in that my party is less then a 1/3 of the population, that it would be a hurtle. The dominant party runs like a crime syndicate, I don't want to change parties. I ran because I am young and saddened by the decline of the city, and figured that I either need to move (which most of people in my generation have) or stand up and try and challenge the status quo. There were others young like me that ran, and I was sad more that they didn't win then myself.  People have encouraged me to continue, I think it is too soon to decide. I have some other opportunities that I am pursing and still on the fence about moving.

In reply to trigun7469 :

Most dominant parties do.  

I was helping a campaign in Louisiana and the candidate had ran for the same position before.  He was blown out running as the minority party.  He switched parties and ran as the dominent party and won the general but not by enough to skip a runoff.  He missed it by like 2% (in louisiana you have to get 50% +1 vote of the voting population or you go to a runoff).  

The state dominant party stepped in and funded the incumbent who was 10 points behind in the general but was second and dropped a very nice THIS GUY ISN'T ONE OF US, HE'S THE OTHER GUYS!!!!  flyer in every registered voter's mailbox the day before the runoff.  No time to counter, and it worked.  My guy lost the runoff by 3 points.

There are some interesting studies about what parties we choose and why it is so hard to be convinced by the other side.  Very interesting.

Hard-wired: The brain's circuitry for political belief

This Article Won’t Change Your Mind: The facts on why facts alone can’t fight false beliefs

For elites, politics is driven by ideology. For voters, it’s not.

Interesting reads, especially the supporting studies.

In reply to FlightService : my community like most others in  Minnesota doesn’t  have party affiliation  in local elections.  You either do your own research or just guess

In reply to frenchyd :

My local elections here (Northern Virginia inside the DC beltway) have no party affiliation because of the Herman act (Federal employees can hold elected office in the area surrounding Washington DC due to the high federal employment rate compared to other employers in the area)  Essentially, if it weren't for Fed employee local offices wouldn't be able to be filled.

Now certain states (Minnesota maybe one of them) do not have party affiliation with the candidate's name.  Some do not have if they are the incumbent or not.  Then there is Louisiana which has both.  

Got to love state rules on elections.

In reply to FlightService :

Minnesota doesn’t have party affiliation with some local offices.  Not all cities lack that

In reply to frenchyd :

Cool so the state law doesn't require it but some voting districts do.


Have you guys seen the mess Virginia is in?  We had a registrar die back in April but he put people in the wrong voting districts before he died.  So now the election is so close the number he messed up actually would change the current winner.

Fun times.