About
Only A Bill - Who, Why, What…?
Hi there. Welcome to the site. I’m Bill.
So, what’s this all about?
Simple, really. Coming up later this year, I get the chance to help pick the leader of a good chunk of the world. Politically, the USA, but the office exerts its influence far, far beyond our one country. It’s an awesome responsibility, and privilege. And when I’m feeling particularly silly, I like to believe my vote matters.
So, recently, as I surveyed the field, I realized I don’t know very little about these people. So, I thought I’d document my search for… understanding? No, that’s too grand a term. More just the search for an opinion with any basis at all.
About me? Let’s see… I’m in what is (I think, at least) an attractive demographic for the campaigns. I’m a white male, college degreed, younger than middle age (depending on how long I live, I suppose) with a good middle class-ish job, a family to feed, mortgage to pay, too much credit card debt… not quite struggling paycheck to paycheck at the moment, but I definitely don’t want the car to break down tomorrow, either. I’m in a fierce battleground state, and yet have basically seen no political ads this campaign season. They’re not targeting me, for whatever reason.
I get most of my news from the Internet. I haven’t seen the evening news in years. I’m likely to watch the Daily Show and Colbert (which I recognize and enjoy for what they are) but no other news-related programming; I respect Olbermann, but his airtime doesn’t seem to work for me. I watch no other news-related TV: no CNN, no Fox News, etc. I watch the occasional mindless reality show or NFL/college football, but nothing regular, and very little of that.
Politically, I’m all over the map. I voted for Bush once and his opponent once - I’m being purposely ambiguous about the years in question. I voted against the Republican candidate for governor of my state, but for the Republican senatorial candidate. I’ve voted for exactly one winning Presidential candidate over the years. I’m Liberal on some issues, Conservative on others; third parties both interest and repel me.
I’ll also post some discussion of issues I care about; hopefully I’ll find a candidate that agrees with me on some of them. I hope anyone reading this finds it a little interesting - maybe you have some of the same questions I do. Please, post responses, I’m happy to see other opinions. Flames and trolls are not welcome, but honest debate is.
In case you’re wondering: no, this site (unlike others, so I’ve heard) is not sponsored by any party, candidate, campaign, group, etc. I’ve taken no compensation to espouse any position you might see me endorse. Any candidate ads you see on the side are there solely though the auspices of Google Adsense, not selected by me.
Thanks for reading. If you’ve got comments/suggestions/whatever, feel free to use the form below:
