Introduction
My sister is the type of person who always asks me what I think about issues or candidates. It’s not that she can’t form her own opinion, but she’s invariably curious as to my take on a given situation to see where it lines up with hers. There’s usually one person like that in every family or group of friends–the one that comes up to you and says, “What do you think of [insert candidate name here]?”
Well, fellow Granite Staters, look no further. Direct your friends and family members to this blog post. This is my somewhat biased take on the important races in New Hampshire in next week’s mid-term elections.
What To Be Aware Of BEFORE You Vote
You hear the same dialog in the media every election cycle:
“It’s the most important election in our lifetime.”
“The future of our country is at stake.”
“This election is a referendum on __________.”
The problem is, this time, the cliches are really kind of true. 2010 marks an election cycle where the nation–and New Hampshire–are at a crossroads. We’re broke. People are out of work. The economy is in the toilet. Families are having a tougher and tougher time making ends meet. Like many in recent memory, this election will shape our state in many ways. It really is the most important election in our lifetime. The future of our country really is at stake. This election really is a referendum on… Well, that takes us to the first thing you need to be aware of before going to your local polling place on Tuesday…
1. This election is a referendum on the Democrats.
No doubt you’ve heard a different spin in the media–that this election is a referendum on incumbents–but that’s only partially true. Democrat incumbents are the ones in real trouble this cycle at nearly every level of Government. On a national level, prognosticators are saying that the Republicans could pick up as many as 100 seats in the House of Representatives and make significant gains in the Senate. At a local level, many races that have been solid Democrat over the past several cycles aren’t leaning that way now. When a political party stands to take a drubbing like that, it says one thing: voters aren’t just angry. They’re pissed.
2. ”Why are they pissed? This mess is all George Bush’s fault!”
There’s absolutely no doubt that George W. Bush left a fairly decent mess to his successor and he deserves his share of blame. The only problem is, he didn’t do it alone. Let’s not forget that the mid-term elections in 2006 saw Democrats voted into the House and Senate in large numbers. He did a lot of spending before that, but he spent nearly as significantly after–and they were willing conspirators in his economic upheaval.
Yes, there was a mess on January 20, 2009 when Barack Obama became President. Obama, however, took that mess and made it enormous–and Democrats across the country (including Shea-Porter and Hodes) went right along with it Voters are mad because they took a really bad situation and made it a full-blown disaster.
3. The only candidate you’ll ever agree with 100% is…
You.
If you see completely eye-to-eye with any candidate, there’s a good chance you need to dig deeper. Think of it this way: what two human beings ever agree on every single thing? When voting, the best way to select a candidate is to find the one that lines up on a majority of your key issues.
I’m not saying you should ignore or abandon your beliefs. However, sometimes you have to compromise. That said…
4. We don’t have the luxury of single-issue voting these days–not with what’s at stake.
Everyone knows a single issue voter. They’re the person who only votes based on abortion or gun rights or taxes or gay rights. One issue–that is it. If a candidate supports that issue, then that’s where their vote goes! The problem is, there are dozens of other issues they never take into consideration and that could make the same candidate completely wrong for everything else.
I typically refer to the least informed voters as “Today Show Voters.” They’re the people who get the majority of their news and political information from programs like the Today Show and they don’t dig any deeper. Single issue voting seems very much like that to me. In these times we live in, we should be vetting these individuals to the Nth degree–not giving them a pass just because they believe in [insert your favorite cause here].
5 Vote already, would you?
Regardless of what you believe or whomever you support, please get out there and vote on Tuesday. Our Republic works at its best when we exercise that right and let our voice be heard.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s take a look at the key races in New Hampshire on Tuesday…
GOVERNOR
Incumbent: John Lynch (Democrat)
Challenger: John Stephen (Republican)
Gov. John Lynch is a classic politician. He’s enjoyed great popularity during his three terms but that’s largely because he doesn’t make any declarations on what he supports. In fact, one of the largest decisions he made–signing gay marriage into law in New Hampshire–was after he denied supporting it.
Meanwhile, Lynch has taxed and spent New Hampshire into the poor house with budget shortfalls projected at near $1 billion dollars over the next two years.
The choice here is simple: John Stephen should be our next Governor. He’s got a long record of reform and we simply cannot afford Lynch any more–and neither can our children and grandchildren.
UNITED STATES SENATOR
(Open Seat)
Former AG Kelly Ayotte (Republican)
Congressman Paul Hodes (Democrat)
Paul Hodes voted with Nancy Pelosi almost 95% of the time as he “represented” his constituents in the Granite State. Let’s be clear: that includes BOTH failed “stimuluses,” Obamacare, the Federal Government take over of General Motors and Chrysler and plenty of other mammoth projects totaling TRILLIONS of dollars.
While I’m not sold on Ms. Ayotte’s conservative credentials, she will get my vote because she’s NOT Paul Hodes. That’s why she should get your vote, too.
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES – DISTRICT 1
Incumbent: Carol Shea-Porter (Democrat)
Challenger: Former Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta (Republican)
Like Hodes, Carol Shea-Porter has helped to preside over the largest Government spending spree in the history of the United States of America. She’s all too willing to take your hard-earned money and give it to someone else. She also has believed she’s above having to be accountable to her constituents by not meeting with them (read: US) during recess.
Frank Guinta uphold conservative values and has committed to lowering taxes and cutting spending. It’s time for Carol to go, and Frank is the right choice to send to Washington in this race.
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESEN
TATIVES – DISTRICT 2
TATIVES – DISTRICT 2
(Open Seat)
Ann McLane Kuster (Democrat)
Former Congressman Charlie Bass (Republican)
I’ll be honest–the person running against Ann Kuster shouldn’t be Charlie Bass in this race. It should be Jennifer Horn but, sadly, it’s not. If I lived in the 2nd Congressional District, I wouldn’t want to vote for either of these candidates: Kuster is a sterotypical liberal and Charlie Bass is a liberal Republican (and that’s being generous).
Charlie Bass used to be my Congresman and, honeslty, he sucked. I hated having him as my Representative. He didn’t share my values and he didn’t really care to respond to me, either. I wasn’t sad when he was voted out of office in 2006. He was part of the problem.
He still is.
This race is a dead-heat choice between bad and bad. It’s leaning toward Kuster and, honestly, that’s because when voters are faced with a choice between a Democrat and Democrat-lite (a liberal Republican), they’ll take the actual Democrat every single time. If I were still living in the 2nd CD, I’d personally write in Jennifer Horn…but that’s just me. If you vote for Bass, hold your nose.
Closing
We simply cannot go on like this. Washington taxes, Washington spends even more. The future of the United States is being flushed away.
Never in the history in this planet has a person, town, city, county, state or country taxed themselves into prosperity. Think of it this way: if your checkbook is overdrawn you don’t spend your way into having money again–it’s just not even remotely possible. The only thing that works is tightening your belt and paying off your debt to get back “in the black.”
Instead, Washington just keeps making the problem worse in the trillions and trillions of dollars.
It’s time for change–REAL change–and that means getting all kinds of people out of Washington. It starts November 2nd.
We can’t go on like this.
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