One of the most sacred traditions in this fair land is the secret ballot, but I know a lot of us aren't shy about our opinions. Do you remember who received your votes for President in every election you participated in? Care to share?
I've been a big election-night junkie since the 1976 election, when I was seven years old and we "voted" in school for our Presidential choices. I liked what I'd read about Amy Carter in our Weekly Readers, so I was tempted to vote for Jimmy Carter, but Gerald Ford was the only President I was ever aware of at that point, so I voted for Ford. Then I stayed up to see the results, disappointed in both my parents for voting for Carter, but happy to see Ford win the kid-vote in Hawaii, at least.
Sadly for me, it would twelve more years before I'd get to cast a real vote, but when that day came, I was ready.
1988: George Bush
When I was young, I considered myself mostly a Republican because I considered the two biggest issues to be the economy and the national defense. Ronald Reagan got us out of lean economic times and effectively ended the Cold War; I considered a vote for Bush an easy choice. Hawaii voted for Dukakis.
1992: George Bush
I wasn't very thrilled with Bush by the time I was twenty-three, but we were still in the early post-Cold-War years, and I liked Bush internationally better than a Bill Clinton I didn't really know anything about. I didn't even consider Ross Perot an option. Hawaii voted for Clinton.
1996: Bill Clinton
I was feeling pretty good about things in 1996; I was finally teaching high-schoolers after eight long years of undergraduate school and feeling better about myself than ever in my life. I'd always admired Bob Dole (I still do) but I didn't think there was too much wrong with our country other than the stuff that's always been wrong with our country, and I didn't see Dole making those things better. I was twenty-seven, and had begun in the previous four years to feel myself turning into what I didn't know at the time was called a libertarian (small L). Same-sex marriage issues locally had me really thinking about what the purpose of laws was, and four years on the anarchy of USENET had me considering the power societal expectation had on regulating personal behavior (as opposed to the power of governmental regulation, which didn't seem to be working). There seemed, for the first time in my memory, the possibility of a very strong female candidate's running, and I would gladly have voted for Christine Todd Whitman, but she didn't run, so Clinton would be that last major-party candidate who'd get my vote. Again, Perot wasn't even a consideration. Hawaii voted for Clinton.
2000: Harry Browne
By the time I was 31, I'd discovered that my political philosophy actually had a name, and that there was a party of like-thinking citizens called the Libertarian Party. While I disagreed (and still disagree) with some of the party's tenets, I felt strongly enough about some of them to cast my first Libertarian vote in a national election. I did not care much for either George W. Bush or Al Gore, so it was actually quite an easy decision. Hawaii voted for Al Gore. Browne died from Lou Gehrig's disease in 2006.
2004: Michael Badnarik
You know, with so much at stake in this first post-World-Trade-Center election, I almost considered a vote against the incumbent administration. I was vehemently anti-war, and had been since before we marched into Iraq, and the US PATRIOT act had pissed me off more than just about anything our government had ever done. While my ideals had swung as far into Libertarianism as I thought possible for a social liberal, I wondered if the best vote might be for a Democrat I didn't much care for (early in the campaigns, I'd hoped for the chance to vote for Carol Moseley Braun, but that didn't happen). But the night before I planned to cast my ballot at Honolulu Hale (I was working at the polls and therefore needed to vote absentee ahead of time), I was watching C-SPAN, which was broadcasting campaign speeches by the candidates. Surprised to find Badnarik in the schedule, I stayed up late to hear what he had to say.
He basically said something to the effect of, "I know you're tempted to cast what you think might be a more meaningful vote tomorrow, but I would like to remind you of why you're a Libertarian." He rattled off a list of positions that only a few years ago were considered "out there" by everyone except Libertarians, including legalizing medical marijuana. He acknowledged that he didn't have a chance in that year's election, but stressed that a vote for him was a vote for the continued discussion of those OTHER issues that hadn't yet made it into mainstream discourse. "This year's crazy Libertarian planks," I heard him say ('though those aren't his words), "are the future's mainstream topics." That did it for me: I voted Libertarian. Hawaii voted for Kerry, as I knew it would.
So. What does your Presidential voting history look like?
I've been a big election-night junkie since the 1976 election, when I was seven years old and we "voted" in school for our Presidential choices. I liked what I'd read about Amy Carter in our Weekly Readers, so I was tempted to vote for Jimmy Carter, but Gerald Ford was the only President I was ever aware of at that point, so I voted for Ford. Then I stayed up to see the results, disappointed in both my parents for voting for Carter, but happy to see Ford win the kid-vote in Hawaii, at least.
Sadly for me, it would twelve more years before I'd get to cast a real vote, but when that day came, I was ready.
1988: George Bush
When I was young, I considered myself mostly a Republican because I considered the two biggest issues to be the economy and the national defense. Ronald Reagan got us out of lean economic times and effectively ended the Cold War; I considered a vote for Bush an easy choice. Hawaii voted for Dukakis.
1992: George Bush
I wasn't very thrilled with Bush by the time I was twenty-three, but we were still in the early post-Cold-War years, and I liked Bush internationally better than a Bill Clinton I didn't really know anything about. I didn't even consider Ross Perot an option. Hawaii voted for Clinton.
1996: Bill Clinton
I was feeling pretty good about things in 1996; I was finally teaching high-schoolers after eight long years of undergraduate school and feeling better about myself than ever in my life. I'd always admired Bob Dole (I still do) but I didn't think there was too much wrong with our country other than the stuff that's always been wrong with our country, and I didn't see Dole making those things better. I was twenty-seven, and had begun in the previous four years to feel myself turning into what I didn't know at the time was called a libertarian (small L). Same-sex marriage issues locally had me really thinking about what the purpose of laws was, and four years on the anarchy of USENET had me considering the power societal expectation had on regulating personal behavior (as opposed to the power of governmental regulation, which didn't seem to be working). There seemed, for the first time in my memory, the possibility of a very strong female candidate's running, and I would gladly have voted for Christine Todd Whitman, but she didn't run, so Clinton would be that last major-party candidate who'd get my vote. Again, Perot wasn't even a consideration. Hawaii voted for Clinton.
2000: Harry Browne
By the time I was 31, I'd discovered that my political philosophy actually had a name, and that there was a party of like-thinking citizens called the Libertarian Party. While I disagreed (and still disagree) with some of the party's tenets, I felt strongly enough about some of them to cast my first Libertarian vote in a national election. I did not care much for either George W. Bush or Al Gore, so it was actually quite an easy decision. Hawaii voted for Al Gore. Browne died from Lou Gehrig's disease in 2006.
2004: Michael Badnarik
You know, with so much at stake in this first post-World-Trade-Center election, I almost considered a vote against the incumbent administration. I was vehemently anti-war, and had been since before we marched into Iraq, and the US PATRIOT act had pissed me off more than just about anything our government had ever done. While my ideals had swung as far into Libertarianism as I thought possible for a social liberal, I wondered if the best vote might be for a Democrat I didn't much care for (early in the campaigns, I'd hoped for the chance to vote for Carol Moseley Braun, but that didn't happen). But the night before I planned to cast my ballot at Honolulu Hale (I was working at the polls and therefore needed to vote absentee ahead of time), I was watching C-SPAN, which was broadcasting campaign speeches by the candidates. Surprised to find Badnarik in the schedule, I stayed up late to hear what he had to say.
He basically said something to the effect of, "I know you're tempted to cast what you think might be a more meaningful vote tomorrow, but I would like to remind you of why you're a Libertarian." He rattled off a list of positions that only a few years ago were considered "out there" by everyone except Libertarians, including legalizing medical marijuana. He acknowledged that he didn't have a chance in that year's election, but stressed that a vote for him was a vote for the continued discussion of those OTHER issues that hadn't yet made it into mainstream discourse. "This year's crazy Libertarian planks," I heard him say ('though those aren't his words), "are the future's mainstream topics." That did it for me: I voted Libertarian. Hawaii voted for Kerry, as I knew it would.
So. What does your Presidential voting history look like?
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