NH Primary-Clinton-McCain We Did Our Job
Well, we did our job!
The media focused on polls. The media focused on television ads. The media focused on the Iowa results. These all made great headlines and television lead ins, but they were not remotely related to the Election Process in Hew Hampshire. Last night the television coverage went on and on about what they did wrong.
They went on and on about the "correctness" of the small state of New Hampshire "deciding" which candidates move on. They spoke against our 1st in the nation primary because our diversity/demographic representation is not the same as the "national averages".
My question is, why is the media always trying to make a story out of nothing? Is there a perfect state? Is there a better state? Would rotating the primary improve the system? I think not. Maybe the media should have focused on what "we" did right.
Our 1st in the nation primary evolved over the past century. It evolved in large part due to our distinct form of New Hampshire government. We elect ALL of our state government officials every two years. We have over 400 State Representatives, the largest body in the USA, even though we are so small. We elect the State officials in the fall.
We elect our Mayors or "Selectmen" (Council) every three years, but this is done on a rotating basis so there is always at least one position open every year. The same holds true for schood boards and county officials. We elect these officials in the Spring at the time of our annual town meetings. In many towns, we still have the privelege of going to the town hall for a Saturday and maybe also Sunday to openly debate amongst us each budget article, zoning change, charity contribution and citizen petition.
This all means that in some years we go "voting" twice a year. And we take it seriously. We know how to ask questions. We know how to challenge evasive answers. And we take pride in this tradition. The one thing the media got right was that we are independant and involved. Where else in our great country, in what other state do you get over 70% of the registered voters to show up? Only in Hew Hampshire.
As for the media's portrayal of the issue of New Hampshire's 1st in the nation primary, they don't even comprehend what we are doing. We are not "choosing" which candidates go on. We are not denying other states and other citizens the right to see all of the candidates. In America's unique democratic system, we are in fact providing a service to the nation and its citizens that only a state of our size and our motivated populace can provide.
What is our process? The nation should think of New Hampshire as the police, the rest of the nation as the jury. We don't decide, you do. Because we are small, we take the "suspects" into our homes and coffee shops and we grill them, interogate them, trip them up when they give evasive answers. We try to determine the truth about each and every "suspect" so the nation can judge. We create a "transcript" on each "suspect" so each "juror" across this country can make an informed decision, not just something based upon media hype or television ads. Our decisions are not based upon race, sex, religious beliefs or demographic national averages. They are based upon well informed opinions of the issues, character and the best future for our country.
Just like our legal system (the best in the world) that divides the responsibilities of investigation verses judgement between the police and a jury of one's peers, our democratic system has evolved to create the same balance. This evolution has taken place over a long period and as the record shows, it has worked for the nation. As the results of this election show, New Hampshire did not vote on what was headlined in the media, it voted based upon what we saw and heard in our homes and on our streets. It is now time for you to take this information and execise your right to vote and choose our next president. God Bless.
Footnote-Don't Rely on the NumbersSubmitted by Brian on Wed, 01/09/2008 - 21:11.
Just a footnote. One important point I left out. Here in New Hampshire, we have a strange system which allows people to register "Undeclared/Independant". They can, on election day, choose a ballot from either party based upon their desire. As a result, the final tally for "Republicans" and "Democrats" does not really reflect the true opinions of each party, only how many voted on each side. This distorts the actual sentiment of the voters when reported in the news.
This problem has grown over the past 10 years for apparently two reasons;
1. It is "cool/politically correct" to register "independant/undeclared" as it means you're a free thinker, more highly educated and therefore intellectually superior.
2. By being "undeclared", a person can legally interfer/influence the results of the other political parties election by simply crossing over and requesting their ballot. This is also concidered to be "cool/politically correct" as it demonstrates their intellectual superiority by beating the system.
Unfortunately, this website illustrates the problem. There are 35 people who listed themselves as Independant/Undelcared.
3-Undeclared Leaning Republican
13-Undeclared Leaning Democrat
19-Independant.
Upon reviewing the postings of the 29 listed as Independants or Undeclared Leaning Democrat, only one had a positive statement for a Republican Candidate, McCain, the most Liberal candidate. In fact, their postings reflect the majority of these undeclareds supported Obama. But not necessarily how they voted.
This illustrates our "undeclared" problem. Read the post of today entitled, OOPS-OBAMA by Alewife, She openly discusses that her friends were Obama supporters but chose Republican ballots to vote against Romney. therefore for McCain. While legal, attempting to stifle the voice of fellow citizens is something they shouldn't be proud of.
So, as a footnote, please remember when you,re reviewing the work that New Hampshire citizens did for this primary to help you to decide, its not the election results that matter to you, its the information that is now available to you about each candidate.