Obama/Romney, Romney/Obama – the most important election of our lifetime? Fact is they’re all the same – bought and paid for with the same money. Ours is a country of the SuperPAC, by the SuperPAC, and for the SuperPAC. The “people” are merely election-day pawns, pulling a Democratic or Republican lever that will deliver the same results every four years …I’ll tell you what isn’t new. Our two-party system continues to play ping pong with the American people, and the electorate is that white little ball going back and forth over the net. This side’s better – no, that one looks best. Elephants/Donkeys, Donkeys/Elephants.
-Bill Gross’ November Investment Outlook, Gross is the manager of the $270 billion Pimco Total Return Fund, currently the largest mutual fund in existence.
The New York Times endorsed Barack Obama for President in 2012 and the New York Post has endorsed Mitt Romney, what else is new? Well, much to everyone’s surprise, Mayor Bloomberg made a last minute endorsement of Obama as well, but not before adding the major caveat “like so many other independents, I have found the past four years to be, in a word, disappointing,” As for myself, I am through with my analysis and recommendation and as always at LICtalk, am ready to deliver the solution to the problem. Before I give it though, one thing that you should NOT take away from my unwillingness to endorse Obama or Romney is that you shouldn’t vote. Instead, it is your decision to make the effort to go to the voting booth that I am looking to maximize, because unlike the Mayor, I believe there are options to O and R that are not “disappointing”. Granted, these choices have absolutely no chance of winning in 2012, but a decision to choose one may help to change the future. With this in mind let me give you three other thoughts to ponder, the first is pretty much a given: President Obama is going to win New York State by a wide margin. The second is more conjecture: disenchantment with the two choices and the political system in general will lead to the lowest turnout ever. Instead of taking the time to vote for a third-party candidate, people just do not vote. The third is an actual statistic from the last election: less than 1.5% of the popular vote in 2008 was cast for a non-Democrat or Republican candidate. Thus, were one to decide to go to the election booth and not vote for O or R, the effect of their vote would be greatly magnified coming off such an incredibly low base. Can you imagine if numerous districts in LIC were to double or triple that small percentage? Might that be picked up by political pundits as a statistical anomaly and pored over as the start of a new trend? I do not know, but here is what I think: there is absolutely no reason to go into the voting booth and not just go for it, try something different. May the revolution start here, in Long Island City.
The Wizard of LIC says
November 5, 2012 at 6:52 pmLow turnout or not, I expect this to be a very, very close contest. We may not even know who won come Wednesday morning, it could be Florida 2000 squared.
Yeah Man says
November 5, 2012 at 8:01 pmRecounts galore!
Kate says
November 5, 2012 at 8:41 pmWho is the person writing this, you don’t identify who you are? Anyway, I might not agree with your opinion but I like the blog.
Paul says
November 6, 2012 at 8:47 amThe hatred between the two parties is too entrenched. We need an end run around them because compromise will not happen. You got my vote!
Anonymous says
November 6, 2012 at 10:25 amin spite of it all..I will throw in my vote for OBAMA and hope for the best.
Ally says
November 6, 2012 at 2:27 pmFyi – the polling lines were a little long at PS78 this morning, but moving well.
anonymous says
November 6, 2012 at 5:24 pmJust got through PS78 in about 12 minutes total, not bad.
Prince says
November 6, 2012 at 5:55 pm12 minutes is now closer to 20 at ps78
JP says
November 6, 2012 at 6:56 pmThe Empire State Building is lit up in beautiful election colors using their new lighting system. No matter what our choices are for President, it makes me proud to be an American.