Don’t throw your vote away. Vote on 11/6

Odd year elections are decided by turnout more than the even year elections.  If you stay away, you are even more likely to get your least liked candidate.

If you live in Virginia, this applies very much to you.  It is a election that will be decided more by who stays away than by who shows up.  If you don’t live in Virginia but have friends or relatives in Virginia, please remind them to vote.

My wife, an election judge, thinks I am too negative with this sentiment.  But if I don’t shout it from the rooftops…

Did not voting lead to “the triumph of evil”?

“Every member of Mr. Trump’s advisory councils should wrestle with his or her conscience,” Lawrence Summers, the former Treasury secretary and former president of Harvard, wrote on the Financial Times website on Tuesday, “and ponder Edmund Burke’s famous warning that ‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.’”

See “Why Are All These Business Leaders Still With Trump?”. Vikas Bajaj and Stuart A. Thompson, New York Times, 2017-08-16.

“Dollars don’t vote – you do” - David Brat

The full quote is “What you proved tonight is that dollars don’t vote – you do.”  See
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/david-brat-s-win-143742269.html

David Brat defeated Rep. Eric Cantor in the primary for the Republican nomination for the U.S. House District 7 in Virginia.

What was really proved is that elections are determined by who shows up and who doesn’t show up.

See also Politics: Don Givadam wins again.

I would like to amend my advice about voting with a more positive spin:

Always vote because every vote always counts.  If you stay away you give the election away.

Politics: Don Givadam wins again

Many a commentator is making a big deal about Representative Eric Cantor’s loss to a “Tea Party” candidate in the Virginia Republican primary.  But few look at how many actually voted.

From http://electionresults.virginia.gov/resultsSW.aspx?type=CON&map=CTY

Unoffical results 2014-06-11 15:22 EDT
Eric I. Cantor 28,902  44.45%
David A. Brat  36,120 55.55%
Total votes 65,022

However, there are 473,032 registered voters in Congressional District 7 which means that 13.75% of them voted for either Republican candidate.  Assuming that these registered voters are evenly split between “Republicans” and “Democrats”, then we could say that 27.5% of the registered Republicans bothered to show up.  Does that mean that 72.5% of the registered “Republicans” don’t care for either candidate or just plain don’t care to vote. If there are more “Republicans” than “Democrats”, the percent of “Republican” no-shows is even worse.

But, some who voted for Brat consider themselves “Democrats”.  They voted for him to get rid of Cantor.  See these admissions in the comments to http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/12/us/politics/after-eric-cantor-primary-defeat-house-republicans-take-stock.html  These “crossover” voters are probably a tiny percent of those who bothered to show; still, their votes won’t be there for Brat in November.  Also, how many Cantor supporters will be no shows in November?

I think we should get away from party primaries and have open primaries.  Those who didn’t give time or a dime to a political party should not be choosing a party’s candidates.

No matter your political preference, the lesson here is:

Always vote because every vote always counts.  If you stay away you give the election away.

See also "Dollars don't vote – you do" – David Brat.

British refuse to negotiate with American Colonists

September 30, 1781 – The British Prime Minister, Lord North, refused to negotiate with the Continental Army, claiming, "Why should we negotiate with those who are killing our soldiers?" (Made up quote for sake of argument)

October 18, 1781 – After General Cornwallis realized that his situation at Yorktown was hopeless, sent a delegation to negotiate with the American and French.

When Lord North learned of the defeat at Yorktown, he proclaimed, "Oh God, it's all over."

May 26, 2011; Jan 23, 2012; Feb 2, 2012; May 2, 2012; and on many more dates appear variations of "Why should we negotiate with the Taliban who are killing our soldiers?"

In 1781 and in 2012, too many people wanted/want to keep up a foreign invasion because their troops are being killed by people who don't want foreign troops in their country.

When will they ever learn?

Putting science over corporate interest

Here's a refreshing bit of news.  Omega Protein Corp. declined to participate in a panel on the status of menhaden in Chesapeake Bay.  Menhaden is an oily fish that is used for pet food and for omega-3 fish oil supplements.  Omega Protein catches 109,020 metric tons of menhaden from Chesapeake Bay.

"A spokesman for Omega said the company was concerned that science would be pushed aside by members who have 'preconceived notions about this fishery and the health of menhaden.'" - "Menhaden fish panel meets in Va. for the first time", Yahoo Finance, 2010-07-16.

Too many companies try to override scientific decisions for their short-term interest.  I think here Omega Protein knows that scientific management of the fish stock is in its long-term interest.

Disclosure: we own shares in Omega Protein.