Voting

I hope you’re all excited and ready to vote tomorrow. Even if the options aren’t the greatest, try to find one good reason to vote for or against someone or some issue. You don’t have to vote for all of the races — you can leave some blank (I really wish you could vote “None of the Above”), but find that one race or issue where there is a difference and vote enthusiastically.
For suggestions, there are a number of good sources:

• Drug WarRant’s voting Wiki is still in development (probably won’t hit its stride until 2008), but has some outstanding information for Alaska, Maryland, and others.
• thehim has an addresses voting issues in this week’s Drug War Roundup
• Drug War Chronicle has an excellent detailed overview.
• Cannabis Culture has the 2006 Stoner Voters Guide

Of course, in many parts of the country, there are some easy ones for drug policy reformers. If you live in Nevada (marijuana legalization), Colorado (marijuana legalization), or South Dakota (medical marijuana), you already know you need to get everybody out to vote for the initiatives on the ballot. Stop being afraid to talk about it and call all your friends this evening to go vote tomorrow.
If you’re in Alabama, you’ll of course be writing in the name of Loretta Nall for Governor.
There are other races around the country deserving of attention. Check the guides above.
And then there’s Congress. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to divide the government right now, and to get some of these sado-moralists off committee chair positions. The best way to do that is to elect a Democratic Congress. Sure, we might have to throw those bums out in two years, but right now we must at least provide some checking of the headlong rush towards authoritarianism. The drug war is a convenient tool in authoritarian movements, and will only be expanded, if the current “Republican” leadership is allowed to continue holding all branches. (I use “Republican” in quotes because the current Republican leadership is a betrayal of traditional conservative principles of limited government and fiscal and individual responsibility.)
So this is what I need you to do. If you vote for no other race at all, at least look for the one marked U.S. House of Representatives, and vote for the Democrat. Is the idiot you’re voting for any good? Unlikely. But that’s not what you’ll be voting for — you’re voting to reduce the power of Mark Souder and James Sensenbrenner, and yes, even the Drug Czar himself (imagine how the Congressional oversight hearings of the ONDCP would change with Democrats in charge of the committees).
OK, if you’re in Texas’s 14th District, vote Republican for the House, but the rest of you can vote against the Republicans.
And please, any of you in the 11th District in Illinois…. help me vote Jerry Weller out of office!
Vote!