Not a political post, Just curious how you research your political candidates?

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Mr. Ingram's Computer Repair & Shoppe

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It's about voting time here in North Carolina (USA).

Curious how you all research your candidates, as googling each one individually is grueling awful.

Is there a wonderful little website or two that has everything all tidy and organized so I can type in my address or something of the sort and it shows everyone running and their stance on major subjects?
 
There is no easy answer to your question. Here are two Websites that will allow you to see how your candidates voted on previous bills and legislation but it is still a lot of work on your part. If they have held no previous public office it is harder to find where their heads are at.

TV/Web/radio news is a freaking joke anymore. Since 5 out of 9 robed fools decided Citizens United was a good idea there is literally billions of dollars being spent from corporations and private citizens looking to get their agendas out there and our Congressmen and woman are just too happy to sell favorable legislation to the highest bidder. They spend half the day fundraising instead of working on bills.

About 2.5 billion was spent on our past Presidential election and about 4.5 billion was spent by all other politicos. Pretty disturbing. It is obvious why 50% of us do not bother getting off the couch that first Tuesday in November and way less than half of us bother to vote for their Congressman and local legislators.

Happy reading!

https://www.congress.gov/

https://www.congress.gov/state-legislature-websites
 
Not to be too cynical but it hardly matters except at the local level. Folks at the state or national level have the parties force them to toe the line. I subscribe to their newsletters and join their Facebook feeds and if possible go see them in person during local events. I avoid "news" outlets since they seem incapable of differentiating fact from opinion. You know 80% of whatever they say or have said is BS, the fun is arriving at which 80%...
 
Well, when one of your options is another corporate tool or "ex CIA".. you pick the corporate tool.

We need voting reform.. Ranked choice voting or simply the option "None of the above" - the consequences of which could be debated.
 
phaZed said:
We need voting reform.
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I hear that. When you lose by 2.8 million votes yet win, something is horribly wrong.

Let us start by killing the Electoral College. With news circumventing the globe in seconds there is no need for that archaic crap anymore. Then get serious about campaign finance reform.
 
There's a well-documented trend in US politics for the taller candidate to win (especially true in presidential elections), for white candidates to do better than black, men better than women, and so on.

So in the absence of better information your best option is to counter this bias by voting for a short, black woman.

Easy.
 
All you have to do is look at past performance. It doesnt matter what they tell you when they are out making speeches. Its how they voted or what they did/support in the past. This gives good bearing on what they will actually do or stand for in the future.
 
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mr m said:
I hear that. When you lose by 2.8 million votes yet win, something is horribly wrong.

Let us start by killing the Electoral College. With news circumventing the globe in seconds there is no need for that archaic crap anymore. Then get serious about campaign finance reform.
Click to expand...

I'm with you on campaign finance reform, but if you think the Electoral College is obsolete, do you also think the Senate is obsolete?
 
Sky-Knight said:
...do you also think the Senate is obsolete?
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Or could it usefully be replaced by something like the British House of Lords?

For those unfamiliar with the Mother or Parliaments, the Lords is a slowly-changing unelected group whose main purpose is to veto legislation passed by the political mayflies in the House of Commons. They're not immune to outside pressure but as they can (almost) never be removed they're not constantly concerned about looking good to their constituents and worrying about the next election. They tend to take a longer-term view and aren't as rigidly divided along party lines as their counterparts in the lower House. They're also much more dignified and polite, possibly because they expect to be working with the same people for many decades.

If US senators were elected for life you'd eventually end up with something similar - a (small-c) conservative brake on Representational and Presidential extremism and short-termism.
 
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The EC was a necessary concept 200 years ago when technology was in its infancy and political information from the East was hard to come by or took forever to migrate West. Because of this lag our founders did not trust the average farmer to make informed decisions so they came up with the idea of voting for electors who in turn would vote the will of the people they represented.

Sounds good but it is flawed. The electoral voters of smaller states have an unfair advantage percentage wise than the electoral voters of the larger states. And worst of all not all electors have to vote the will of the people. They are called faithless electors and legally can vote as they please.

I realize that we are not a Democracy but a Republic. This must change. One man, one woman, one vote or what is the point? Our local elections work this way as does voting for our Congressmen.This is why 50% of us do not get off the La-Z-Boy on Tuesday to vote. Compare our pathetic voter turnout to other developed nations.

As corrupt Mayor Thompson said, vote early...and often.
 
Sky-Knight said:
I'm with you on campaign finance reform, but if you think the Electoral College is obsolete, do you also think the Senate is obsolete?
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The Senate is a good balance for the House of Reps. This gives smaller states some political influence.
 
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