Voting this year.

I will be voting for the first time. I’m currently in Boston, MA for the midterm elections and I registered over the summer. The state elections have 5 candidates for governor and 4 ballot questions. Unfortunately the Modern Whig party doesn’t have a candidate in the election, so we’ll have to make due with what we’ve got.

Gubernatorial Candidates

Evan Falchuk is the candidate from the United Independent Party, and he’s supported by the Modern Whigs of Massachusetts. I agree with his stances mostly; the housing for poor people for one, no tax breaks for corporations for another, also the idea of a progressive tax. He’s against money in politics and super pacs, so that’s a big plus. Here’s his entry in Ballotpedia. I disagree with his stance on GMOs, it is not a scientifically based stance, but an emotional one based on propaganda.

200px-Evan_Falchuk The money out of politics idea is very important. Little can change in our government(federal and local) if we continue to allow the Citizen’s United ruling to continue. A constitutional convention has been proposed, which Falchuk is for, that seeks to eliminate that ruling with an amendment of the US Constitution. This is why I support things like Wolf PAC, and CA and VT have already passed resolutions for the convention. It’d be great if MA could pass it as well. The money is out of hand, the legal bribery is far too much. But I digress.

So this will be the guy I’m choosing as my first vote. You may dislike that I’m not voting for someone from the Democratic or Republican parties, because it’s thought of as a wasted vote. Well, I don’t care. I vote my conscience; I don’t vote for anyone that isn’t worth voting for – regardless if there are no suitable choices. One of the reasons I haven’t voted till now. If he gets 3% of the vote then the United Independent Party will have primaries et al, which is good. We need to stop with the idiotic “two party system”. It’s progress.

Ballot Questions

  1. Gas Tax
  2. Water Bottle Deposit
  3. Casinos
  4. Sick Time

Here’s a good overview of each question from the Boston Globe. I’m ok with the gas tax being updated automatically with inflation, I’m ok with other bottles besides pop and beer having a deposit added. I’m also ok with casinos. The sick time one is pretty important, and I wholeheartedly agree with making employees provide sick time to their employees. On my facebook page I had made a list of decrees if I were ever emperor, and sick time was one of them. OF COURSE employees should have sick time, that is simply a no brainer. What, you want someone coming in to work sick(cause they can’t afford to lose the pay) spreading their sickness to others(especially if they handle food or otherwise interact with the public)? Aside from getting others sick, you also prolong the illness, same for injuries, which ends up costing more in the long run. Healthy workers are more productive workers, healthy citizens don’t burden our healthcare system as much. This is completely fucked up that it’s not already a thing. If you own a business and have a bunch of employees, then you had better offer sick time. Just do it, asshole. So, yea I’ll be voting for sick time.

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