Do you want to take the window, or the stairs?

We all know that I feel very strongly about the need for a 3rd party, and I will end up voting 3rd party this year in my state’s governor race.
But the sad truth is, we in California are going to end up with Bill Simon or Gray Davis in our governor’s mansion.
Can we stop this ride? It’s making me sick and I want to get off.
Now, I can go off on a major rant here, but I won’t.
Instead, I just want to share this hilarious link that I saw on memepool this morning: eGray. It made me howl, because there’s a joke here in California that goes like this:


How do you get Gray Davis to change his position on an issue?
Tell him the check bounced.

Haw haw haw.
It looks like this site is run by supporters of Class-A moron Bill Simon, who is running on his “business record,” but won’t let anyone have a meaningful look at his books…which is understandable, I guess…I mean, poor Bill Simon is very busy right now dealing with the 78 million dollar judgement against his company…for fraud. No wonder Bush called him “a prudent businessman.” He said it with a smirk…but he seems to always have that smirk, so maybe I’m reading too much into it.
D’oh! I said I wouldn’t rant and then I went ahead and did it. Dammit.
Boy, Bill Simon or Gray Davis…talk about the evil of two lessers. Talk about bottom feeders. Talk about a hobson’s choice.
Did you know there’s a saying, “As California goes, so goes the nation?”
Oh, will someone please stop this ride? It’s making me sick and I want to get off.

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103 thoughts on “Do you want to take the window, or the stairs?”

  1. A third party is part of the answer. WE need to seriously consider term limits and reducing the size of government.
    Our founding fathers did not ever intend for the federal government to ever get this big. They did not intend for people to make a profession of being a politician. They expected a person to serve one or two terms and then go back home and continue on with their life as if they had never been elected to office.

  2. Well you could always move to Minnesota and have Jessie for another month or two 🙂 Although theres a pretty damned good chance of us getting another Independent Governer this election.

  4. The only true third party to vote for is the Libertarians. VOTE LIBERTARIAN WIL! GO GET YOUR DRUTHERS! 🙂
    The Libertarians are the largest third party in American, running more candidates nationwide than all other third parties combined. They are the only ones who stand on principle and will act that way when elected. It’s time to get some Libertarians elected to the local and state level.
    Vote libertarian wil! It’s the only true third choice in America.

  5. Considering the racial diversity of California it’s amazing how we keep electing these pasty-faced rich white guys. Of course, race is insignificant in the face of corruption, so it probably doesn’t matter who we elect– by the time you get to that stage of the game you’re already corrupted, perverted, paid off and bought. Maybe we need more freaks like Jerry Brown. A lot of the talk about him may have been negative, but at least people were talking. As for George Bush, the reason he has that smirk on his face is that every moment he is conscious (notice I didn’t use the word ‘awake’) he is aware of a little sequence of words endlessly repeating through his mind like background noise– “Ah can’t fuh-kin be-LIEVE Ah’m President!”

  9. Wil,
    I mentioned in an earlier post something that I’m fond of mentioning when relating to politics n such….
    “When I learned that Bush won the election, I locked myself in my room and cried. I refused to come out for a few days!”
    I’m in Minnesota. I LOVE JESSE!!!!!!!!!
    I really liked Gore and thought we’d be able to work with him in office, however I voted GREEN because I wanted to prove a point (and i really liked him too)
    we NEED to clean house when it comes to government. with all the “shadow-government” crap going on, we need to do something drastic….but i doubt that’ll happen, so maybe i’ll just move to Ireland or something…
    Wil Wheaton for office???? hmm…..yeah, ya know, i’d give you my vote for sure! for many many reasons.
    Eternally,
    Ember

  13. as a netting observer from the other side of the atlantic it might be of slender comfort for you to know that politics British style is little better though we now have the entertaining diversions of the Welsh assembly and the Scots Parliament flexing the megre muscles against the bullyboys of London. Our politicians tend to be on a smaller scale with a Prime minister composed entirely of smiling teeth, a leader of the opposition who is all but invisible and a leader of our third party, the liberals, who is fond of the water of life that makes you fall down giggling. To pick up on kendoka’s comment the door is alweays open for America to come back into the fold of the Commonwealth, after all communism didn’t last forever. it would mean you being ruled by an old queen though, which isn’t always bad.

  14. as a new visitor via the net from the other side of the Atlantic I would just like to give you a small crumb of comfort in that politics this side of the pond are no less depressing though we now have the entertaining diversions of the Welsh Assembly and the Scottish Parliament flexing their tiny muscles against the bully boys of London. There are three main parties in British politics though at the moment we have a Prime MInister, Labour Party, who is composed entirely of smiling teeth, a leader of the opposition,Conservative Party, who is all but invisible and the leader of the third party, Liberal, who quite likes the Scottish water of life that makes you fall down and giggle a lot. To pick up on kendoka’s comment the door is always open for America to come back under the wing of the commonwealth, after all communism didn’t last forever. It would mean being ruled by an old queen but that isn’t all that bad given some of the alternatives.

  16. Move to Australia, Wil. That’s all I have to say to you.
    Safe schools for your kids minus guns and security check points.
    Great beaches with even greater beach babes.
    Pretty damn excellent weather.
    Fantastic food.
    Irreverant senses of humour.
    Yeah, lousy, stupid politicians, but no one takes any notice of them anyway.
    Heaven is down under, Wil. Your wife and kids will love it. Even Ferris will love it!

  17. “Now, I can go off on a major rant here, but I won’t.”
    Stealing Dennis Miller’s bit now? 🙂
    -Locke

  18. Well, having more than 2 parties sure helps finding someone you can put your cross at, but I’m afraid it won’t save Germany from Stoiber (as conservative as Bush, just a little more intelligent) either. Only 17 more days to that election 🙁
    So, you’re not alone in your misery.

  19. Hey that’s a thought for all you out there in California land .. write in Wil Wheaton as your choice for Governer!
    Reminds me of the movie ‘Brewsters Millions’ where Richard Pryor’s charactor created the party ‘None of the Above’ … which in the end, that party won by a LANDSLIDE!
    Maybe someone should start an independent party with the same name … and insist to be listed as the LAST line on ALL ballots.
    (smirk)
    I wonder if by doing JUST that … if then the candidates WOULD win.
    However … I still say … Write in Wil Wheaton for Gov of California!
    Yo Wil … if Elected … would you accept?
    ;-D

  20. Yah, Australia. Where the crime has skyrocketed since the ban on weapons and taxation is just as bad as here in the US.
    I wouldn’t move to Australia if you paid me. Visit it, hell yes, but I’d never live there.
    About the only other place in the world which has as much liberty as the US is Costa Rica.

  21. Of course, we could all sign the petition begging Michael Moore to run for President! Forget governorships, let’s aim for the big game!

  22. Look at who’s running for governor of my state (New York). The younger Cuomo just pulled out of the race recently and we’re left with not much of a choice. To me, all they are looking out for is who they get in to the offices to fill their ‘patronage’ positions. Many things in New York were moved to Albany so Pataki could put his friends and cronies into them. (example, nothing for unemployment can be handled or straightened out at your local office. Only through the Albany number during the hours of 8:30-4:30M-F. The reps in Albany make more of a mess of something that should be simple which results in more hearings locally). Up until 2000, you could handle everything locally. Patronage is a sick thing but not for those it benefits. I would like to see those people hunt around for a job by themselves.
    Recently I switched to the Independent party.

  23. Wil,
    I know this is a little of comment for this post but I just opened a door on my computer desk and there it was staring at me..looking me in the face like a ghost from the past. You see it was a memorial card that says “In Memory Of Those Lost 9-11-01” and it has a picture of the twin towers right before they were hit. I guess it effected me more than I thought for me to keep this little memorial on my desk this long.
    What does this have to do with politics and elections? maybe nothing or maybe everything..we sure as hell need to vote the right people in office if we want anything good to happen in this country.
    Just something to think about..
    until your next post……
    Matt……

  24. Meant to say “off comment” not of comment
    DUH!! Oh well I’ll be perfect next time. LOL
    Matt……

  25. Interesting. Texas is in the same situation. They have Republican who is in the pocket of George Dub, and another twerp, Tony Sanchez, who is really a Republican (and *also* in the pocket of George Dub) but is running on the Democratic ticket because he’s Latino and thinks he can fool the Hispanic population of Texas into thinking he is a Democrat.
    And if betraying his own culture isn’t enough to make you realize what a jerk this guy is, consider that he was most recently known for being the one who managed to scare off a world-class architectural firm (Herzog and de Meuron) brought in to build a kick-ass art museum for The University of Texas, upon whose Board of Regents he sits. Sanchez insisted that the museum’s design match the 100 year old Mediterranean architecture on the rest of the campus. Herzog and de Meuron scoffed, and rightly so. So now the university will be the proud home of what is essentially the “LaQuinta Museum of Art.”

  26. Will,
    The problem you are talking about is easily explained. A Person can be intelligent, articulate, witty, thoughtful … all of the nice things we like to think about ourselves… But, and this is important, PEOPLE are stupid. The bovine mentality exhibited by voters late in the election (looks like my side is winning, so I won’t bother to vote) is more proof. One person can never be a riot, but normally sane individuals become caught up in stupidity and do lots of dumb things. They riot, out of anger (Rodney king) out of joy (Chicago Bulls championships), or even out of misunderstanding (Minneapolis), but NO ONE, after the fact, could provide a valid reason why rioting was thought to be a “good idea at the time”
    A Person is smart, PEOPLE are stupid. And Politicians are voted into office by PEOPLE. Also.. once a person is in office they join a group of PEOPLE, thus dropping off half their brains at the door and behaving like people. Stupid.
    Stepping off soap box
    Alacrity
    PS.. Glad you liked the Business card!

  27. I’m not voting in our upcoming local elections–I know that sounds irresponsible of me, but I don’t like any of the candidates. Maybe it would just come down to the lesser of two evils. Or three. People keep telling me this over and over again: If you don’t vote, you can’t complain. I say i can complain anyway.

  29. Watch what you wish for. You could end up like us in Minnesota with Ventura. I mean I voted for him, but I just wanted the party to get matching funds. I didn’t want him in office! Ventura spends most of his time being a weenie to the media. Yeah, it’s the media’s fault people make fun of you, not your own policy…rightttttt.

  30. Regarding “throwing your vote away.”
    If you seriously don’t see one candidate as better than the other between the Rs and Ds…then yes…voting third party is the way to go.
    But if you do see one as a better good than the other (and not one as a lesser evil…there is a difference) Then voting for a third party is helping out the one you like less. In the current winner-take all system.
    I remember reading about a country, I forget which country, that has “Automatic Run-off” elections where you rank the candidates. And if by counting all the #1 votes no winner is found, the votes for the last place contender are redistributed among the #2 votes. And so on until there is a clear winner.
    This system would encourage an honest ranking. Everyone would know that even if their 3rd party candidate didn’t win…their choice for 2nd would count if needed.
    I do prefer the American system over a Parliamentary system in that I don’t like the President being the leader of the majority party It removes an important check, I believe. If Congress actually chose the President, that would make the President beholden to Congress. Not to the People.
    Another way to reduce the weakness of third parties would of course be to remove the power of money in the equation. The abilities of the two parties to generate money gives them an unfair advantage over independent candidates.
    It would take an H Ross Perot to break through in this system….but of course, while he had the money…he was insane.
    Maybe we need a Hollywood-based Third Party. It would likely be progressive in nature. And they’d definitely have the money to fund it.

  31. mmmm, evil. when I’m faced with choosing between two evils, I always like to go with the greater of the two. trust me, once you try evil you’ll never want to try good again!

  32. I nominate Wil Wheaton! Our next governor of California!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Come on, Wil? You can run for the Common Sense party. You’d slaughter these two morons!
    Scott

  35. I definitely hear you. In MassaTAXetts, we have to choose between squeaky clean, scary, Mitt Romney or pick one of the four Dems who are squabbling amongst themselves. Unfortunately, I feel like a third party vote gets you folks like Geo. W ’cause it splits things, but that’s just my opinion. They just raised our income taxes and there still isn’t one damn road sign in the state. Where does the money go? End rant.

  36. Wil,
    My thought on voting is that everyone who can vote should. I do not care if you are a dem, or a pub, or a green, or a lib, or a const or whatever. Vote the way you feel.
    The reason I say this is that ALL the votes that come in are counted and noted by the powers that be,(PTB). When the PTB see a trend then they will change policy to take that trend into account. If you vote for a dem or a pub and do not really want that dem or pub in office then you are giving bad data to the PTB.
    Think of government kinda like a jet plane that has its controls only linked electronically via wires to the actual actuators that make the rudder, ailerons, and horizontal stabilizer move. The politicians that are in office are kinda like the rudder, ailerons and H.S. . They are put in office by the PTB, the actuators in this example. We as the people can only control the stick to give the PTB a clue as to whether we want our plane to go up, down, loop the loop or roll. The voting process would equate to the wires that talk to the actuators.
    Who are the PTB? They are not all nameless. Some of them are called electors. Some are prominent business people. Some are religious leaders. Some are military leaders. They nudge and push and plan and make things happen. But they are not telepathic. They need data that is valid. Give them this data. Vote the way you feel.
    I like your site and you seem like an ok guy also.
    dzimmerm

  37. Wil,
    In all seriousness, run for office. Run in a local election. The trouble with most independent campaigns is that they always “start at the top,” where there is little chance of winning. Obviously these campaigns are trying to raise awareness (like the Nader campagin), but they have little chance of winning. You have a great chance of winning on the local level (where you can actually make a huge difference), and work your way up the political ladder. Change takes time, as you know. You can help foster in this change. Start small, and work your way up. You have the name recognition (which we all know helps a great deal), and your political views are awesome. You really should make it happen Wil. You can do it. Seriously. If not, you know that things will never change, and the only famous people to get in office will be right-wingers with loads of cash. Give it a shot. The country needs more people like you in office.
    Peace.

  38. Wil,
    One last thought on this whole “to take office or to not take office” idea…..
    No matter what you decide, your fans (the real ones) will support you completely. You are an extremely intelligent man, and you are totally capable of succeeding at whatever you set your heart and mind to. Run for office and we’ll vote for you. Don’t run for office and we’ll just have to be excited for whatever else you have in mind 🙂
    Journey long my friend,
    Eternally,
    Ember

  39. Wil,
    Which third party do you think you’ll vote for? There’s the Libertarians, the Commies, Ross Perot’s loons, the Greens, The Flat Earth Society… the list goes on. Your brand of liberalism is alive and well in the Democratic party. They have to change they’re tune to get elected. They fool us all. Thats why the election of 1992 was the LAST time I voted for a democrat or third party. I turned right soon after.
    By the way, did you send your 600 dollar rebate back to the IRS ot did you keep it. Will you send back the extra money from the tax cut back as well? ALL of my Liberal friends…and they are legion… kept theirs. Of course a couple of them stopped talking to me when Bush won…another story.
    Keep plugging away. Love the site.
    Bart

  40. I just love the fact that he made the I’m Gonna Git You Sucka quote as his topic. I love that movie.
    I still crack up when I see Damon Wayans throw himself down the stairs.

  41. There are still Liberals (with a capital L) in the Democratic party, but they are a dying breed.
    If you truly believe Clinton was such a person, you are sadly mistaken. He may have occasionally flirted with the left, but for the most part he remained in the middle of the road all 8 years.
    Personally, my favorite third party is the Natural Law Party. The only part of their platform I wish they’d discard is the slightly off-kilter bit about Transcendental Meditation. Otherwise they’re great.
    The Greens are also a good party…but I don’t like Nader. Can’t tell you why, I just don’t.
    But whenever I go into a voting booth, I have all the candidates ranked in my mind. I will do whatever is in my power to make sure the person on the bottom of the list doesn’t get elected. Even if that means voting for the person who is second.

  42. HAHAHAHAHAA!!!!! I’m totally with you on the creation of a 3rd, and even 4th and 5th parties – dang, I wish someone would do an http://www.egray.org like-thing to Virginia’s bunch of one-sided poli-sickens. We have a saying in Virginia: Where Northern Virginia goes, the rest of the state is sure to fight it and vote Republican. Ha ha! OK so that’s not really a saying here, but having lived in both urban-extremely-overboard-democratic parts of the state and less-dense-hypocritically-republican towns… what was my point? OH yeah, that partisan politics have little point left to them. Anyway, thanks for the laugh, and for being someone else out there in cyberspace who is an inde-D**N-pendent!!!!

  43. Uhhh, that’s all fine and good, but what 3rd party candidate could do more, or anything, for the current state of California? None that I know of. Our budget is in a shambles, true. But it is not totally Gray Davis’s fault. As far as “the issues” are concerned, I feel Davis is the only way to go. Republicans all over the country are REALLY close to messing things up bad if we don’t pay attention (i.e. – destroying what’s left of the environment, taking away the right to choose, placing funding in ridiculous places, and going to war…again…it’s what they do). I want to make it clear that I am a registered Green Party voter, and I still feel that Davis is the best choice. Voting 3rd party only works when the 3rd party candidate is worth as much (or more) than the Democrate (hahahaa! sorry Republicans…uhhh, no I’m not).

  44. This is a SF Chronicle article on how party disinterest in even their own candidates has never been higher:
    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/09/05/MN55825.DTL
    Normally, I vote libertarian, and believe we should vote for who we believe is the best candidate. However, American elections are being assaulted by corporate interests, resulting in candidates neither of the parties that are most likely going to win even want.
    I think we have to decide who our First Enemy is, and thwart it. Gray Davis is an incumbent owing favors to corporate interest. There is no other visible Democratic contender. Bill Simon buried LA Mayor Richard Riordan under negative ads.
    Now, my knowledge of Riordan’s politics is very poor. This is the one thing I know about him: He has the trust of one of the two parties — but has been passed by the First Enemy.
    The freer and freer exchange of information we are participating in is revealing more and more the “dark matter” of corporate influemce on these elections we are enduring. It’s basic evolution: we have been blind to this First Enemy of corporate influence, and it has been feeding off of us.
    In terms of thwarting the Enemy, between salvaging the office of governor and salvaging the election process itself, to me it looks like salvaging the election process is the “source of the river” where the Enemy is vulnerable, and the more realistic goal.
    Again, my knowledge of Riordan’s leadership is very poor, but it appears to me that if he were to win as a write-in candidate, while it may not salvage the office of governor — for all I know it may saturate the office with even more corruption — as a statement on how the office depends on the election, and not the other way around, well, that’s what the Enemy wants us to forget, isn’t it?
    “You know, we haven’t figured out how to take your vote away from you yet, but it’s so unimportant anyway, like some gnawed chicken bone we can just toss at you, it doesn’t matter which way you’ll vote, we’ll get what we want anyway.” This is the first deception the Enemy is counting on us to believe — that they’re vulnerable to the elected office when they are vulnerable to the election.
    I think our best option is to *sacrifice the office to put the election back in the hands of the voter.* If we keep chasing the office — keep chasing the bait the Enemy keeps dangling at us — we will continue to lose both the office and our influence as voters. I think the shortest road to waking everyone up is if Riordan gets in on a write-in campaign. Yes, the Enemy will try to “run in front of the parade” if that happens — but smart people like Wil will know what to do if such a disruption can be generated in the first place — and the Enemy aren’t vulnerable with the way things are going now anyway.
    What do the rest of you think?

  46. Thought I had tonight:
    I am a Progressive. I believe in personal freedoms. I am against The War on Drugs. I am in favor of increasing fuel-efficiency standards. I support unions. I oppose the death penalty. I am pro-choice. I am in favor of gay and lesbian marriage. I favor school vouchers. I want the US out of the rest of the world, and out of my house and bedroom. I am in favor of gun control, but I believe in the right of individuals to protect themselves. I am against the draft. I want public financing of campaigns and I want campaigns to be limited to 6 weeks before an election. I want quality healthcare to be guaranteed to all Americans, and I support a strenghtening of our immigration laws and boarders.
    So who is there for *me*?
    Seems like the ultra-conservatives have the Republicans to vote for.
    Seems like the moderate Republicans have the Democrats to voe for.
    Who is there for *me*?

  47. Hmm how about Wil for dictator… I shouldn’t try to be funny when I’m half asleep… *Drags himself off to bed* 🙂

  48. Unfortunately wil, the same goes here in Australia, it seems as yet there is no escaping it. We have 2 major parties, Labour or Liberal, and recently I’ve been so disillusioned with the Liberal government who are now in power (and who I’d previously favoured over Labour), and I’ve realised that each is as bad as the other. Sure, there are a few seats occupied by members of “smaller” parties but unfortunately they don’t provide much of a voice, drowned out by the ramblings of the 2 major parties. The saddest part is that people get disillusioned with one, vote for the other at the next election, and thus the vicious cycle continues – let’s raise taxes some more, let’s sell off more Australian companies to bring in the dollars, let’s not sign Kyoto, let’s silence protestors, let’s not bring in reforms which may go against the church, let’s build another detention centre, let’s go to war. Hell, I could go on, but you get my point. It really is disheartening. But hell, we’re lucky we even get a vote, and so I won’t waste mine by falling for their tricks anymore, I’ll vote in those parties that actually believe what they’re saying.
    [/rant]

  50. Well, I kissed off the country a year ago after the coup-d’etat, but prior to that I religiously voted for any progressive third-party I could find including: Greens, Peace and Freedom and Communist (only once or twice…Peace and Freedom is pretty widespread in California).
    I say vote your conscience regardless of consequences. Really the US needs proportional representation like much of the world, else it’s a sham democracy and will continue to be.

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