controlCONTROLcontrol

ok so i voted today. before voting i had to sign a paper that had my name on it and on which i had to write my current place of residence. then i had to show my voter registration card to the lady and recite the address i had written on the little paper. i stopped just short of going into hypotheticals with her (well i wonder what is the point? i mean, if someone were to steal my voter reg card they could just memorize the address on it and tell you the address) because i didn't want to cause any suspicion.

when i was first asked to do the little paper thing, i asked the lady why we had to do it (in a nice way) and she really didn't have any clue why - she gave me some garbled lines about "checks and balances."

weird weird weird.

so after taking a "talk-radio-listening" hiatus, i realized i possessed the following gripes:

• WHY does it have to be about CONTROL of the congress? why should one party have "control" over either? and why is everyone talking about "if republicans lose control of the house/senate" - could someone please explain to me what it means for one party to "be in control"? is control just a statistical possibility (ie, is control just having a simple majority? but doesn't that preclude lawmakers voting along party lines, and isn't it BAD if that happens - like if a lawmaker is from M party does he even read the bills on which he votes when the M-party leader tells them how to vote?


• and WHY does EITHER PARTY have to have an "agenda" (from media matters because i was unconscious in '94 - they give the example of the republican's "Contract with America" as an agenda)? i mean, yes, we must have lawmakers that have a plan to deal with the issues, but shouldn't each lawmaker have his OWN plan, no matter how alike or different it is from other members' of x party plans? doesn't this make the job MUCH EASIER and with MUCH LESS REQUIRED READING as a lawmaker if you don't have to come up with YOUR OWN agenda? wouldn't that allow real debate and compromise and therefore better things going on in congress?

just some questions. if you happen upon my blog and would like to help me understand feel free to comment (belligerent comments will be removed by the blog administrator)