#608 – Dick Bernard: Election 2012 #37. The Minnesota Primary Election, and Romney's VP Choice.

We woke this morning to the announcement that Mitt Romney has picked Paul Ryan as his VP-designate. More on that at the end of this post.
The more important and immediate issue is the Minnesota Primary Election which is Tuesday, August 14 – that’s three days from now. All of the information is accessible here.
It is easy to overlook the Primary Election.
It is a dangerous – and exploitable – oversight.
In 2008, the last Presidential year, there was a Primary election, and about 10% of the eligible voters went to the polls. Three months later, nearly 80% of the eligible voters cast ballots.
The Primary elections determine who will be on the general election ballot. It is important to know who is running for all of the offices. This will vary by where you live. There are some dangerous (in my opinion) choices out there, just hoping that sufficient people will vote them onto the ballot by sloppy voting, or not voting at all.
My general rule: if one of the established parties has endorsed one of the candidates, at least you know that person has passed a pretty rigorous test within the party, the person deserves support.
In the case of Judges, which are non-partisan, be very cautious before voting against an incumbent. We want an impartial judiciary, and in recent years the judiciary has been made a playground for people who do not have the interests of everyone at heart.
Minnesotans have three days to learn.
Look and Learn. Again, here’s the portal.
Regarding Romney and Ryan:

The selection is not all that much of a surprise. Romney is playing to the Tea Party fringe of his party – the fringe that is in control of what passes for the contemporary Republican Party.
Ryan is one of the Ayn Rand’ians, at least in core philosophy.
I would submit that even those who revere Ayn Rand would rue the day that her policies rule this country. Once they walk with rose-colored glasses into Ayn Rand’s world as reality, they will change their tune, but it will be too late….
April 18, 2011, I went to the first movie of the Ayn Rand Chronicles, Atlas Shrugged. I wrote about it here. It was a dismal, depressing film.
I predicted, then, that Part III would come out just in time for the 2012 elections.
I was wrong. But Part II is scheduled for release in October of this year, just in time for the 2012 elections.
One of Romney’s rumored alternate choices was former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. He’d hardly be an improvement on Ryan. This morning’s Minneapolis Star Tribune had a major op ed piece on Pawlenty’s ‘accomplishments’ as Governor for eight years. I lived in this state for all of those eight years, and the column catches those years perfectly. We will suffer long from what was left behind.
Perhaps readers will fill me in on the other also-rans in Romney’s stable of possibilities.
Be wary, be very wary.
Directly related: here