February 24, 2004

The Big Hominid narrows his own field for the November Elections.

Greetings loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is pleasantly amused by the Poet Laureate's determination concerning Bush vs. Daffy Duck or Someone else vs. Daffy Duck. The first cause of your Maximum Leader's amusement is the fact that the Poet Laureate doesn't vote. The second is that the Poet Laureate is appearing to be a one issue voter (should he choose to break the cycle and vote).

(Aside: Allow your Maximum Leader to say that in a choice between Bush/Kerry/Nader or Marvin the Martian (since we are talking classic cartoon characters), your Maximum Leader would likely choose Marvin the Martian. He is just the type of singleminded interventionist that the US needs to get rid of terrorists. Plus, he would bring to office the XP5 Space Modulator which is sure to be able to disintegrate terrorists with a single shot. But your Maximum Leader digresses...)

One-issue voting has always been a subject of curiosity to your Maximum Leader. What would make one issue so important as to override consideration of others? That is a mostly rhetorical question, since surely the reasons are as varied as the issues to be considered. Take gay marriage. What about gay marriage is so important that a candidate's position on that issue might trump say, national security or tax policy? Would someone be inclinded to vote for Dennis Kucinich who would allow Muslim terrorists to indiscriminately bomb US cities - so long as gays can marry? Would someone be inclinded to vote for a candidate who would double the taxes on married couples - but allow gays to marry? (To balance the budget of course...) It is curious.

As for gay marriage, a subject hammered upon at length in so many spaces - including this one, the issue is one that is rapidly coming to a head. Judges (and Mayors) are forcing the issue. And overall, your Maximum Leader believes that forcing the issue is a bad thing. (At least in domestic politics.) People don't mind being given time to come around to your point of view. But they tend to really dislike contraversial decision being taken without any semblance of democratic input. Gay marriage by judicial fiat, or by Mayors choosing to disobey state laws, is not a popular idea. (Frankly no such societal change so implemented is really popular.) As polls seem to go, the good people of Massachusetts seem to be souring on the gay marriage issue. And the majority of people nationally seem to be against the idea. If judges continue to rule the way they have, your Maximum Leader wouldn't be surprised to see support grow for a Constitutional Amendment against gay marriage; and a whole bunch of judges will loose their seats on the bench.

But to get back to single-issue voting... It just seems like a bad idea to your Maximum Leader; who evaluates many positions before deciding for whom to vote. Your Maximum Leader knows many people for whom Second Amendment Right and gun policy is the single-issue on which they vote. While all in favour of gun rights (and expansive gun rights at that), your Maximum Leader would wiegh that issue among all the others before deciding for whom to vote. It just is curious. Your Maximum Leader welcomes any opinions on single-issue voting that anyone would care to share.

Carry on.

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