I don't know how familiar any of you are with the political spectrum (or lack or spectrum) in the "great" state of Utah, so I'll enlighten prior to my diatribe . . .
Utah is a very - probably the most - Republican state in the union. With the exception of the second district, all of our elected officials are Republicans. (And the Democrat in the second district, Jim Matheson, is as conservative as Democrats can be . . .) We have two Republican senators, and two Republican congressmen. As I've mentioned, with the exception of the second district it's very, very Republican. I mean, this is the state where approval ratings for Dubya are still in the seventies . . .
The same can be said of the State Legislature. It's overwhelmingly Republican. But it's also overwhelmingly conceited, egotistical, and full of themselves. Many of the Republican "leaders" in the State government refuse to even listen to what few Democrats may be there. They will purposely be as loud as possible when any of the Demos or that one lone Independent have the floor.
Few things annoy me more than people who won't even have common courtesy with others. Consequently, while voting tomorrow, I'm not going to be spending much time looking at the (R) or (D) next to the candidate's names - I'm going to be looking for the (I) for incumbent . . . and heartily voting against them.
Every one of 'em. Rob Bishop, my congressman . . . I'll gladly vote against him. His opponent, Steve Olsen, is a fine, upstanding man with good values. Bishop is a scumbag.
Orrin Hatch . . . I've already expressed on this site my distaste for our senior (citizen) congressman. His biggest plank when he first ran was that his opponent had been in Washington for 18 years - much too long. He's running for his sixth (count 'em SIXTH) term. Yup, that's thirty years in Washington. I'll proudly vote against him. (That, and he's become the Borg of the Republican party - he has no views of his own anymore, just parrots the party lines . . . you can almost see him downloading the answers from the Borg central computer as he debates.) Pete Ashdown, Democrat, is getting my vote.
Will my votes be in vain? Most assuredly. Will I be flushing them down the toilet? Yup. But at least I can say I voted. I've cleared my conscience. I can proudly say, "hey everyone, it's not my fault - I didn't vote for these tools."
So I'll go and vote tomorrow with a sad heart and a clear soul. Oh well. Whatever.