WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2016

Vote

Eric Lee, A-SOCIATED PRESS

TOPICS: VOTE, FROM THE WIRES, NONPARTISAN ALTERNATIVE, FEDERATION LIVING, REALITY-BASED, SURVIVAL ISSUES, TAKE BACK ARIZONA

TUCSON (A-P) — So the message is "Vote," which involves registering to vote in the primary to determine if there will be a POTUS candidate that merits a vote. This is an unexpected message from someone who, at age 62, has never voted; however I registered for the first time and voted in the AZ primary yesterday. Apparently that isn't good enough as maybe I voted, and maybe I didn't. My vote probably was counted as I voted in a small Republican dominated town, not in Maricopa County, so no incentive for voter suppression, though "new" to all present were new voting machines and like all electronic machines they are black boxes to all but a few programmers. It should not be possible to project a winner based on 1% of the vote as it could take a day or two for multiple counters to hand count and agree. Actual results could then be tallied.

Should Sanders not win the nomination, it ought not be because people like me didn't vote. In Arizona, to vote in the primary, one must register as either a Democrat or Republican. Those registered as Independents ("mistakenly" or otherwise) or members of other parties can't vote in the primary. So for now this writer is posing as a Democrat. If Sanders is not nominated, people like me won't vote, won't be grateful for being allowed to choose between Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum who agreed to have a battle over who broke whose rattle, to see who gets to serve special (and self) interests. Someone pointed out that Sanders could run on the Green Party without violating his promise to not run as an Independent. This would insure a Trump victory, so I might vote to help weaken the DNC and RNC to marginalize partisan politics (tribal identity politics-as-usual).

If there is no functional choice in the 2016, I had planned, as usual, to not vote. If Sanders as a possible non-business as usual person is not on the ballot, I could write him in, but I now think there is an alternative that make more sense than making a token protest of writing in "Sanders." The alternative is to go to the polls and write in "Anonymus" which could allow for the Anonymus Party to become an alternative party on paper, legal paper, as a first step towards reality-based politics.

In addition to "Vote," Americans should consider "why this time in particular?" The difference this time is that we have an authentic choice. The Constitution was crafted to give citizens an alternative to violent revolution, but it is not sufficient to insure authentic choice between functionally different candidates. Sanders was unexpected. The system will be tweaked, or "fixed," so the risk of an unowned, underestimated candidate wild card will never happen again. Electing Sanders would be alternative to business-as-usual. If elected and a message is sent, loud and clear, to all politicians: "Support the President or look for a different job," then the system might work for the people again. Otherwise, perhaps with just a bit more of business-as-usual, too much will be too much and non-peaceable revolution will follow. As usual, all will loose; the winner will merely inherit the rubble. Voting is preferable. The "enough is enough" recognition must spread as it can precede peaceable change. If it eventually comes to "too much is too much" for a majority, there will be no positive outcome.

Two versions of the poster below: one is 1.25:1 aspect ratio for a 20" x 16" poster, but could also be printed on 11" x 8.5" paper. The other is 1.5:1 which better fills 11" x 8.5" paper or could be printed as a 36" x 24" poster. The "target market" are those who are not committed to a party or candidate. The issues may well boil down to "are we going to do this the easy way now, or the hard way later?" This is a bigger issue than whether Sanders gets nominated then elected or not. It is why he, and a whole bunch of other non-business-as-usual players, need to be elected. This is ultimately not a political issue, but a survival of civilization and perhaps species (ours) survival issue. If you can make the point in fewer words or with better visual storytelling, consider doing so. The message is not for those who "feel the Bern," but for everyone else. We need to communicate. These are the times that.......(cue Thomas Paine/the better angels of our nature.)

1.25:1 version download (right click, Save as).

1.5:1 version download (right click, Save as). Or resize and post online. Spread the memes.

The graphics are editable. If you can improve, feel free. 1.25:1 version.psd     1.5:1 version.psd. These are Photoshop files, so if you don't have PS, use GIMP2 open source. Or suggest improvements and they might happen.

You can take files to most any photo-center, even Walmart's, and print posters. Or save a trip and use Zazzle: 1.25 version on Zazzle, 1.5 version on Zazzle, and Zazzle allows customizing. Oh, Zazzle products have to be sold for profit. It could be 150% markup, but 10% (which is used) is minimal. If anyone buys a poster I'll donate the 10% to the Trump campaign. Oh, wait, he doesn't need the money, so I'll give it to Sanders unless otherwise directed. If you want your 10% to go to Trump (-dum) or Hillary (-dee), let me know. It won't matter much which. Cruz? I'll have to think about it.

Mouse over, images are zoomable and pan (hold left button).

1.25:1 version