What should the Democrats have done that wasn't and has Democrats not wanting to vote?

[Tony_FLADEM]

The Democrats came into power with the country near financial collapse and headed into a depression. The country avoided a financial collapse and although the employment situational has not fully recovered a depression was avoided.

A sweeping health care bill was passed that will give 30 million Americans access to health insurance and more protections for those already with insurance.

A financial regulation bill was passed that has all those useless people on Wall Street giving all their money to the Republican Party.

We have various business organizations who don't make an effort to prevent the exploitation of workers in countries such as Mexico and China making an immense effort to elect Republicans to office.

This tells me that while things have not been perfect, that as someone who wants the best for my country and everyone that lives in my country and someone that believes evidence and rationality should be used to help solve problems, the Republican Party isn't even in the same league as the Democratic Party.

So I guess I can't understand why any Democrat would choose not to vote this election and let those freaks in the GOP get into power.

[Dawson Leery]

1. Perhaps a McCain win would have been better in the long run.

A depression would have occurred and change would have been forced by the public at large (not counting the corporate backed tea parties).
It would not be pretty, but people have very short memories.

[DJ13]

2. Public option (if not single payer), returning to FDR's financial regulations

Ending both wars, prosecuting the Bush admin for war crimes, repealing much of the Patriot Act, prosecuting those who were involved in the financial fraud that caused the crash instead of rewarding them.......

Those are just a few issues that various segments of the base are pissed about, and had even just a couple of them been addressed in a serious manner I doubt there would be any need to worry the base might not vote this November.

[Tony_FLADEM]

4. The war in Iraq is coming to an end. Obama campaigned

on escalating the war in Afghanistan and anti-war people still voted for him.

He didn't campaign on prosecuting the Bush Administration or repealing the patriot act either. So I wouldn't use those as a reason.


The Financial Fraud investigations are more complicated and are still on-going. You have outside entities such as the Attorney General of New York who are better suited to do this.

They did bring back some of the Roosevelt Era regulations of Wall Street although not all of them. The fact that Wall Street is giving all their money to the Republican Party tells me there are good things in the Wall Street reform bill.

[Scuba]

8. Nailed it.

[Yeshuah Ben Joseph]

3. Perhaps actual health care reform or actual financial reform

as opposed to further enshrinement of the insurance industry or the federal reserve, labeled as "reform"?

[Tony_FLADEM]

5. More regulation of the insurance industry and giving 30 million people

access to insurance is reform. It might not be everything you want but it is better than the status-quo.

There is a chance that if you have a public option it would end up being like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (needing a tax payer rescue) sometime in the future.

That needs to be taken into consideration.

[unkachuck]

6. stop....

....exaggerating the half-way things you've done....stop pretending you've done more than you have for us....stop berating the Base for being disappointed and acknowledge that the Base might have something to be disappointed over....

....and stop saying,'..the choice is between bad and worse..' and promise us something exciting that you will deliver during the lame duck session before our numbers dwindle....

[Tony_FLADEM]

7. Not voting because someone might have said something that

offended you or hurt your feelings is not a good reason to let the Republican get back into power.

The choice is between a Work-In-Progress and a something really really bad.

[LWolf]

9. Perhaps you don't want to understand. nt

[Tony_FLADEM]

10. You're right

I don't understand why everytime Democrats get into, liberals decide to stay home the next election because paradise on earth hasn't been achieved.


I can't figure out what's the point.

[LWolf]

11. I don't actually know any liberals who are staying home.

Some aren't donating time or money.

Some aren't voting for Democrats; they'll go 3rd party instead. It's not about paradise, it's about refusing to support those moving the party and the nation to the right. About not supporting those taking us in the wrong direction.

Some ARE voting for Democrats.

I'm voting for every Democrat on my ballot with one exception. I haven't decided whether to give Kitzhaber my vote. He has made some statements about my profession, education, that I find suspicious. If he's going to jump on the blame teacher bandwagon, he won't get my vote.

Jeff Merkley will. Judy Stiegler will. Others down the ballot will.

I AM staying home, since I'll get my ballot a few weeks before election day and have time to ponder, research, and come to good decisions before I mail it back.

I WILL be voting for all offices.