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LemonyOrchid t1_ix6kpsh wrote

People don’t believe it, but in these local elections, EVERY vote counts. We’ve had races won on 5, 6, 12 votes in the years I’ve been keeping an eye in things in Newtown.

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paintball6818 t1_ix6la0o wrote

My wife literally said this year, ugggh should we even go vote it isn’t going to matter and I made her go. We single handedly did it I tell her now.

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naguszek t1_ix7n4sr wrote

It definitely does! My wife and I just moved to Southington and we knew it was pretty red, so it’s exciting to feel our vote really mattered in flipping the district the other way.

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5Dprairiedog t1_ix7yumg wrote

I feel this. I moved from a large reliably blue town to a small town that is basically split down the middle last year. This was my first time voting in this new district and I felt like my vote really mattered.

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DicmoVolant t1_ix8e24d wrote

Same. Moved from Vermont to New Milford. This town has Republican mayor (who’s alright frankly), our state rep is Republican, and Hayes had a pretty tight race for reelection. This town is split about 60/40 Republicans to Democrats, but lots of liberal folks are moving here and a lot of the kids that grew up here have moved back (or never left) and they are mostly voting Dem. Things are changing and we’re definitely a part of it.

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Payment-Main t1_ix7u43y wrote

Great. Just move in and change to what you left behind. I’m sure the locals appreciate it.

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MikeNotBrick t1_ix7y0i3 wrote

If you're saying towns should just stay under the status quo, then what's even the point of the election?

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enigma7x t1_ix870uv wrote

Hate to break it to you buddy but since they live there now, they're locals too.

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naguszek t1_ix8duav wrote

Wow someone has a chip on the shoulder, we moved due to a change of jobs, so now we’re ‘local’…should we just vote as others have done before to keep things ‘local’, it doesn’t make sense.

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0cclumency t1_ix86bly wrote

Apparently about half of them do in fact appreciate it!

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Kodiak01 t1_ix80zrj wrote

The people that are infuriating are the ones that refuse to go vote at all just because they don't like the candidates in a single race. They never take local/regional races into account.

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SeanFromQueens t1_ix88aj1 wrote

It's because the races that are most profitable to report on (statewide or has a candidate who is incendiary) is all those individuals are basing their judgment on. If news outlets reported on policy differences those same individuals would complain about it all being too boring, but the rest of the electorate would be better informed at the detriment of the news outlets' profit margins.

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Kodiak01 t1_ix8anig wrote

> If news outlets reported on policy differences those same individuals would complain about it all being too boring, but the rest of the electorate would be better informed at the detriment of the news outlets' profit margins.

Those differences are precisely why I like my absentee ballot. For all of those unfamiliar races, it gives me the time to look them up right then and there to see their policy differences. It took me nearly twenty minutes at work to fill out the most recent ballot, time which I consider well spent.

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SeanFromQueens t1_ix8ebza wrote

The problem that I'm pointing out is that the news outlets filling their airtime/column inches with the least informative races and it turns off the low information voter who judges the election just on the most reported candidates. I suspect that if the news outlets were informative and went in depth into policy differences, the same low information voters that judged that the candidates are all bad/corrupt/liars/what-have-you would still not vote because it was too boring. Shaming the non-voter is not effective at turning them out to vote but neither is informing them because there's a segment of the public who simply will not ever be interested in voting, they will come up with a rationale after the fact.

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DicmoVolant t1_ix8cwr7 wrote

You can print a sample ballot, fill it out at your leisure, and bring it with you to the polls. Still more convenient to vote absentee, but in case your ballot never arrives, you can still take your time and research who you’re voting for. Our ballots never showed up this election, so we used samples.

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Kodiak01 t1_ix8dhn5 wrote

I vote absentee because I work out of State and I'm one accident detour or bad string of red lights from missing the poll, and even then I have to speed to get there.

The one time I didn't get my ballot to send in, I drove like a madman and made it with less than 5 minutes to spare. Now, if I don't see it by the week before an election, I go to the Town Clerk's office (which is open until 7pm on Thursdays) and pick it up in person.

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Usedtoknowsomeone46 t1_ix71ufs wrote

Newtown goes republican all the time. Crazy town.

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IrishWithoutPotatoes t1_ix91mkr wrote

Not surprising tbh. I always get funny looks at the bars when people find out I’m actually a liberal.

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giant_toad42 t1_ix9k7hu wrote

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberalism_in_the_United_States

Got some bad news for you and them. We all have far more in common than we know.

We are all .. pretty liberal. The United States is founded on .. liberalism. We progressed due to .. liberalism. The robber barons were made rich by .. liberalism.

Surprised Pikachu - "We're all liberals?!" .. yes. In different degrees, yes. The idea of "conservative" has shifted .. very far from what it once was. All along .. we have been fighting with friends, and friends have lost their way because they no longer see OUR perspective: empathy has died in internet echo chambers. < This is an idea I first heard on NPR - and, of course the story has been BURIED and is invisible. If I try to find it now, I get: "Echo chambers are a myth" --- no, they're not.

Democrats and Republicans aren't a threat to democracy and rule by the people. Echo chambers are.

https://www.fairobserver.com/devils-dictionary/has-democracy-become-a-threadbare-reality/

>Democracy has always been about debate. But debate has all but turned away from its original model, human dialogue aiming at the intelligent sharing and exchange of information. Dialogue implies seeking some form of mutual understanding to mitigate conflict, a state that if allowed to fester can only be resolved by the victory of one side and the defeat of the other. At a time when the White House and the official theoreticians of security in the United States evoke a “battle brewing between authoritarianism and democracy,” the confusion about what democracy means and how it translates into government has never been greater. Contemporary democracy appears to have cultivated a taste for conflict and the minimizing of dialogue.

We are all headed down a dangerous path. Like our need to vote - our need to resist the temptation to be ignorant of the opinions of others .. is equally important. It is how our nation was founded. It is how our nation became great.

Straying from our core values is how we die as a civilization.

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LemonyOrchid t1_ixa31ua wrote

There are actually more registered Dems than Republicans in Newtown as of just a few years ago. However the majority of voters are unaffiliated and I think the majority of them are Republicans. Where are you going? My Place and Cover? Lol

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IrishWithoutPotatoes t1_ixa36x6 wrote

…don’t hate on my bar choices. I go to Barnwood sometimes…

I should also add I don’t go to Newtown as much anymore because I now live in Fairfield (how dare I)

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LemonyOrchid t1_ixa3hau wrote

I’m not hating! Lol. Just a wild guess based on your comment.

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IrishWithoutPotatoes t1_ixa3n70 wrote

Lol maybe I need new Newtown bars. But all the staff at the places I go to don’t hate on my political preferences, just some of the other patrons.

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Uharugger t1_ix93edh wrote

It's full of socially liberal, fiscally conservative people. Even the first selectman, who is a democrat, is fiscally conservative, which allows for more social programs etc.

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Barrayaran t1_ix9f83s wrote

I'm not sure I follow -- you're saying being fiscal conservative "allows for more social programs"? I ask because most uses I've read of "fiscally conservative" are specifically about not spending on social programs in order to keep taxes low.

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Uharugger t1_ix9gxml wrote

Fiscally conservative in this context is just trimming excess where necessary. Making sure funds aren't misappropriated and then distributing them where needed. An example would be, under the old selectmen, the new high school greenhouse (at the time) was allotted $300,000. The person running it said they only needed $100,000 but the school was still given the $300,000. The other $200,000 was no where to be found. This was years ago but that was the kind of bs going on in town for years. The current selectman, who is a democrat, could be considered fiscally conservative. He's great about making sure projects are appropriately managed from a money stand point. Which allows for more funding for social programs, infrastructure projects etc.

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giant_toad42 t1_ix9nu25 wrote

There is nothing wrong with reallocating money to do maximum good.

Where we deviate from fiscal conservatism - is when the greenhouse is allocated $300k, but only needs $100k - and the director of the greenhouse replaces the windows every year to make sure that the excess $200k is retained in budget.

The additional $200k could have been saved as surplus or reallocated to different programs. I'd prefer it were saved as surplus for when economic downturn hits .. so cuts are not necessary.

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giant_toad42 t1_ix9mosz wrote

I am fiscially conservative - and my definition of that is - when I expend revenue it must go to something I get a return on. It also means acting ethically and responsibly with the money of the people of the United States.

It's a misconception that "fiscially conservative" equals "no social spending at all". I see social spending as an investment and I demand to see a return on investment. If there is no return, there is no spending - programs should do quantifiable good.

I am willing to pay for free college - for students who take college seriously. Those who do not succeed should be quickly removed from classes and pushed into vocational programs. ( I know a load of very well-to-do plumbers, landscapers, and electricians. )

I am willing to support SNAP/Rent subsidy.

I am not willing to support no-strings-attached SNAP/Rent subsidy for healthy people capable of working.

I believe laziness is real and should not be subsidized.

I do not believe people who are of working age and are "out of the workforce" should be excluded from unemployment numbers.

I believe teachers should be paid more, and pre-k/childcare should be heavily subsidized.

I believe tax excessive loopholes for corporations are irresponsible.

I support a global (worldwide) minimum corporate tax.

I am very willing to spend on infrastructure and reliable high capacity public transit ( EG: bringing back light rail. )

I am willing to allow familes on state aid to receive a graduated standard of living based benefit vs income-based benefit with a hard cut-off.

I am not willing to increase welfare cash benefit / discretionary spend, nor do I support "UBI".

I believe politicians who abuse their power for profit should be prosecuted. ( This includes people on both sides. )

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