Some final election odds and ends

At least for Oregon, most of us who are voting turned in the ballots a while ago. I'd like to think that if enough of us turned in our ballots super early, it would end the political ads and calls. In reality, it would probably make the increasing desperation of the ads worse; fewer voters are up for grabs, but that makes them more critical.

Anyway, it's still seeing those ads that has led to the thoughts showcased here.

One is reinforcement for my earlier post, You know enough to vote.

Recent ads have indicated that Knute Buehler has not filed taxes, and that it might be because of how much money he has made by overcharging Medicare. He says his partial tax filings are to protect his financial partners. I think that sounds pretty dodgy. However, I was already not going to vote for him. Perhaps if I had liked him I would be shocked and dismayed. Viewing the supporters of other people who have been dodgy on tax returns, perhaps the appropriate response is to make excuses for it.

I do admit to a little bit of surprise that he is now actually stating outright in ads that he will fix our financial problems without raising taxes. That is such a blatant lie that it could be desperation, but in another way it really takes some confidence. Or a lack of confidence in the discernment of voters.

Regardless, I have no regrets about how I filled out my ballot.

For the election I won't be voting in, I was a little caught off guard about the anti-Oregonian sentiments expressed in recent ads for Jaime Herrera Beutler. I did not realize Washingtonians hate us so much. I get that if your opponent has lived in Oregon it would seem like a reasonable thing to stoke, but I know a lot of people who have lived on both sides of the Columbia, and I thought we generally felt pretty similar. It's jealousy over us getting our gas pumped, isn't it?

Her ads have been interesting in misapplication of statistics for a while, but the last minute desperation has come through not just in anti-webfoot sentiment, but also in a recent ad about health care. Yes, if we went to some sort of single payer health care system you would no longer be using employer-issued insurance (though single payer is not the only means of achieving universal coverage) but it wouldn't play out in the way shown.

On a related note, I have seen complaints about negative campaigning and it being a turnoff and losing votes. I get that, but I think we need to be more discriminating. If an ad says bad things about a candidate, but those things are true and relevant, is that a negative attack ad or is it something you need to know? The larger issues is that you shouldn't be getting all of your information from ads, but if the ads give you things to look up, they can serve a purpose.

Finally, on a more nationwide level, I am now seeing various people saying they are turning their backs on the Republican party for various reasons.

They do seem to be more legitimate than the "Why I left" ads, and we can use the votes, but the undercurrent that bothers me - and is worth some self-reflection - is that you should care about things before they happen to you. The suffering of others matters too. Yes, it catches up, so acting on it early does end up serving self-interest, but there needs to be more than self-interest. We need to care about each other.

Hoping for a blue wave. Knowing it won't fix everything. Hoping anyway.

Exercise your franchise!