News.com published the Technology Voter Guide 2006 yesterday, and I must say that it’s very well done. In it, CNET looked at 16 Senate votes and 20 House votes to create a ranking of the tech-friendliness of each incumbent.
With North Dakota’s Senators Byran Dorgan and Gaylord “Kent” Conrad and Representative Earl Pomeroy, the state has a combined tech ranking of 46th out of 50. Individually, Conrad scored a 37.50%, Dorgan a 31.25%, and Pomeroy a 50.00%.
Trumping all of this, of course, is the methodology CNET used to construct this guide. Looking at the list of votes used to rank each house, they obviously chose a pure technology stance instead of looking at any moral/social benefits of a given bill. Caveat emptor.
You’ve probably noticed that I haven’t said a peep about the upcoming election until now. Honestly, I’m very indifferent about politics this year, bordering on apathetic. This year the republicans are fielding two no name candidates against Senator Conrad and Rep. Pomeroy (Dwight Grotberg and Matt Mechtel). I’m not impressed with the two democrats, but the republican party’s inability to field serious contenders doesn’t make me put a lot of faith in them either.
At the national level, I’m just not impressed with either of the two major parties right now. I’ve typically voted republican in the past, but their inability to push any sort of agenda through Congress has left me disillusioned. Fiscally, I just don’t see a difference between the republicans and democrats anymore. They both seem to spend money with blatant disregard of reality and refuse to fix our country’s long-term problems like health care, social security, etc.
Hopefully I’ll be more engaged for the 2008 election…