2008 General Election Endorsements
Published November 3rd, 2008Here are, with less than 24 hours to go, my final 2008 voting selections.
President/Vice President
Barack Obama/Joe Biden
US Representative
Brad Sherman
State Senator
Carol Liu
State Assembly
Paul Krekorian
Comments
Pretty much a straight Democratic Ticket.
Judicial
Hilleri Merritt, Cynthia Loo, Lori-Ann Jones, C. Edward Mack, Michael Jesic
Comments
I hate these because it’s so hard to find good info. I’m simply going by the LA County Democratic Party endorsements. While I may not agree with all their stances, I’m more likely to agree with most of them.
Prop 1A - YES
This is so worth it. High speed rail to SF? Awesome.
Prop 2 - YES
I waffled on this, but I’m voting yes. It’s a matter of principles. Some say that it will raise prices and it’s a bad time economy-wise. Maybe. Maybe not. But no one will ever say “it’s a good time to raise prices.” So that’s not a great argument. Some say that companies will leave the state and go elsewhere. Maybe, but I have a hard time believing that it will be cheaper for companies to build all new facilities elsewhere than to just retrofit the ones they have here. Now, you might say that I should be only eating humanely treated animals now - but frankly, it’s difficult and expensive (matters of scale) for me. That’s my shortcoming and I accept that. This prop will make things better all around though and I can support that. Yes on Prop 2. Because it’s the right thing to do.
Prop 3 - YES
Support children’s hospitals.
Prop 4 - NO
An attempt to abridge abortion rights. Too many ways that this could cause more harm than it claims to solve.
Prop 5 - YES
One of my biggest beefs with the prison system is that it’s not about rehabilitation - it’s original purpose. This makes a move back to that, an attempt to help those non-violent offenders change their ways. The offenders need to want to change - but they also need help to do it. This is a relatively low-cost way to do that. Hopefully, if it’s a success, it can serve as a model.
Prop 6 - NO
Why are we trying to INCREASE the long-term prison population, when we’re already overcrowded. We need to think of better solutions to crime problems - not just longer prison sentences. It’s not working.
Prop 7 - NO
No one likes this prop. Except companies that stand to get paid a ton of money to not really do anything.
Prop 8 - NO, NO, NO, NO (I’d vote 4 times NO if I could)
Yet to hear even ONE good reason for a YES vote. You don’t like gay marriage? Fine - don’t get one. Doesn’t mean you have the right to prevent others from having the same rights as you. This does not “redefine marriage” any more than we have already done by letting interracial couples marry. Or allowing no-fault divorces. Or countless other “redefinitions” - an absurd argument. Gay marriage in NO WAY threatens “traditional” marriage. It allows for more intact families under the eyes of the law - yes, it’s Pro-Family. This prop would also hard-wire DISCRIMINATION into the CA Constitution. What’s wrong with that? Absolutely everything. Constitutional documents are about GIVING rights, not taking them away. Just about every time the Constitution is amended to restrict rights, it is repealed. There’s a reason for that. The basis of political tradition in this country is about guaranteeing the rights of the citizens - not abridging them in the most fundamental legal way possible. No matter how you feel on gay marriage - to enshrine discrimination into the constitution should frighten and offend you.
Prop 9 - NO
Seems unnecessary.
Prop 10 - NO
Heavily tilted towards natural gas - another non-renewable resource. How about not favoring something like that? Also, how about not favoring one man’s companies (T. Boone Pickens)? This just isn’t a good idea.
Prop 11 - NO
I’m very against gerrymandering. I’m all for proper and fair redistricting. This would do nothing for either. First off, by having R’s and D’s - and indies - on a commission, you still run the risk of Rs and Ds cutting deals for safe districts. That’s a problem we already have. And they could still overwhelm the “non-partisan” individuals. Second, do we really believe they will be non-partisan? Aren’t we all a little partisan? Isn’t that part of the human condition? So lets take people out of it. Let’s get real non-partisan. Let’s decide on a set of rules, how districts *should* be drawn. And then - let a computer do it. That’s non-partisan, that’s fair. Decide on rules - not districts.
Prop 12 - YES
Reward veterans with this help. They will be the ones paying it back. This $ does not come from CA taxpayers like other bond issues.
Measure R - NO
I’m all for paying taxes. What I don’t like is paying twice. I have serious issues with sales taxes. Increasing the sales tax bothers me, especially in a bad economy. I vote NO.
Measure J - YES
Support schools, junior college education programs. They are important for a great many people who are trying to better themselves. I respect that.
THANK YOU- I JUST DON’T KNOW WHAT I WOULD HAVE DONE WITHOUT YOUR SUGGESTIONS- SO WELL THOUGHT OUT!!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU ….!!! COURTNEY NORMAN- VENICE RESIDENT
I think you know who I voted for in the presidential election =)
Some of the props were tough this time around. I had a hard time deciding how to vote on Prop 1a. I think we really need to improve our transportation infrastructure, and a 2hr 40min trip to SF would be really cool. Ultimately, though, I’d rather that money be spent on intracity transportation systems. Traveling to SF isn’t a very common trip for me (and for most people), but I fight with freeway traffic *every day*. So in the end I voted no.
I agree with you on the prison related props. We can’t just lock people up and think we can forget about them. Most of the people in prison are going to get out at some point and we need to rehabilitate them so they don’t end up right back inside. We also don’t need to be throwing small time non-violent offenders in prison where they turn into worse criminals.
Prop 11 was another tough one. You know I hate gerrymandering as much as you do. I agree that an algorithmic approach would be ideal, but people just aren’t going to trust computers for this so it’s never going to happen. The prop definitely has its flaws, but I think that it is at least somewhat better than the current system, so I voted for it.
kevin,
i basically voted the same as you with exceptions on 11 and 1a. we will see how it all turned out. i spent forever reading all the propositions last night and flip flopped on a few of them!
so we have a new president! president obama will be inaugurated in 75 days! woo hoo!
jennifer juniper