How I'm Voting
Arjun's Highly Vetted Voter Guide for November 2024 Elections
Mid-writing note: It strikes me, as I’m putting the finishing touches on this article, even with all the glaringly obvious choices, how difficult and time-consuming it is to make educated voting decisions.1
Imagine what it’s like when you know nobody personally, are relying on news, signage, and marketing and only start paying attention to dOiNg yOuR cIvIc DuTy when you get your ballot in the mail. Imagine the average person voting.
This is the appeal of Voter Guides. “We’ve done the hard work for you, you just trust us! We’ve closely examined the issues.” But voter guides are riddled with problems and the groups that create them are certainly biased. I mean hey, they’re created by people just like me, who also have ulterior motives behind their recommendations.
A lot of people are paying attention to politics now only because things have gotten so bad unignorable interruptions have crept into our lives. Everybody in the world knows Trump and his three big policies.2 These bad times will not last, and people will again disconnect from politics. History may not repeat itself exactly, but it sure as hell rhymes.3
"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain." —John Adams
If Government were operating as advertised, I wouldn’t be writing this.
And you wouldn’t be looking for it.
ARTICLE START
The opportunities we have in this election are better than we’ve ever had before. The hard work has already been done, now it’s up to you to fill in a couple bubbles. Amazingly, many people choose not to do even this simple thing— the lowest level of participation in democratic politics, then complain about how bad it is.
It is analogous to the mindset of the “I just want government to leave me alone”4 which I’ve written about before:
Another good article on non-voting propaganda here:
November 5, 2024
Now, it’s gotten so bad, that many of the choices are painstakingly obvious.
A great number of amazing candidates, many who I know personally, have stepped up to the plate to boldly declare, “Hire me! I will fix these problems!”
These are people who never thought they would run. They never even wanted to get into politics. They are the exact type of people that you can trust to get the job done and not sell you out to the highest bidder once they get in. As my friend Asad puts it:
This is happening all across the country.
I have included, for each candidate, cons, for fun and edification. Don’t take this the wrong way… remember, most of the candidates I’ve selected are INFINITELY better than the alternatives. I might regret doing this…
My location stats:
City: San Francisco
Supervisor District: 2
Assembly District: 19
State Senate District: 11
US Congressional District: 11Your ballot may be different. Check your districts here.
Check out the Voter Information Pamphlet for this election here.
Ok now, Here we go →
President: Donald J. Trump
Many reasons, a few here:
More on Agenda 47
Should be the overwhelmingly obvious choice at this point in time, unless you’ve been living under a rock with your head up your ass specifically seeking out TDS news to consume, as this guy explains.
Cons: Rarely edifies his crowds
US Senator: Steve Garvey
Should also be obvious. Pro-Trump candidate. I had the good fortune thanks to my friend Jason to volunteer at his fundraising event in Fairfield at the Jelly Belly Factory. He’s a powerful and disarming speaker, and would very likely change hearts and minds in the Senate. Listening to him speak reminded me of Reagan.
"Life is God's gift to us. How we live is our gift to God." -Steve Garvey
Cons: Campaign possibly compromised
US Representative: Bruce Lou
Another obvious choice. Pro-Trump candidate. Business owner. Won at Jeopardy once. Running an energetic campaign. He may be one of the youngest people elected to the House. While he has not [yet] agreed to tackle the issue of the misapplication and administered fraud of income taxes once elected, he is aware of it. Will be better than the alternative.
Cons: Tower of party line
State Senator: Yvette Corkrean
Another blatantly obvious choice. She stood strong against the vaccine mandates, so much so that she was fired from her nursing job. Her original impetus for running was to protect children from the pedophilic tendencies of the State, massively enabled by her off-the-rails opponent. She has the best reason to step into the ring. Her heart is in the right place. Will be much better than the alternative.
Cons: Skirts certain core issues
Assembly 17: Manuel Norris-Barrera
Another obvious choice. Business owner; restaurant in the Mission. Well aware of the stupidity you have to deal with owning and operating a food business in this state, so will be able to directly address those issues in the legislature. His focus is on good governance, not becoming a career politician. Will be better than the alternative.
Cons: Very Republican
Assembly 19: David Lee
Tough call, but to me he’s a better choice than his opponent, whose platform is focused on fighting for abortion rights at your expense, while making it harder for you to protect yourself from criminals. David has a background in engineering, which is more suitable to political economy than a background in law.
Cons: True believer in some nonsense.
Note: I ran for this seat in the primary!
Mayor
#1: Ellen Lee Zhou
Another obvious choice. It’s her third time running, yet her core campaign message has remained consistent since her first run 6 years ago, because (sadly) we’re still dealing with the exact same issues.
I wrote a letter to the RCCC full of reasons to elect Ellen:
Cons: Overly conspiratorial
#2-N: Your Choice
Your choice. Pick whoever you want. If you don’t like a candidate, do not fill a bubble in their row. Only fill bubbles for candidates you’d like to see elected.
My order:
Leaving off:
Sheriff: Michael Juan
A less obvious choice, I think because most people don’t know what is the role of the Sheriff, including the current Sheriff. The Sheriff is a political animal because he is elected, but that does not preclude them from exercising their responsibility to actually do their job, whether or not it goes against political opinion or “policy.” The current Sheriff sat back and watched as businesses across the city were illegally forced to shut down, people were illegally coerced to accept medical devices and procedures, and thousands of workers were illegally fired from the city, many of which were in his own department. He wouldn’t even stand for his own deputies.
Time to try someone new. Michael seems to have a better understanding of the role.
Cons: Training seems to be mostly Lex Regia
City Attorney: Richard Woon
While the Sheriff was sitting back watching illegal city policy destroy our city, Richard took to the streets to educate people— including businessowners— about the proper role of government, what is legal, and what is not. Richard would be a boon in the City Attorney’s office. He can help end the many illegal termination court cases, save the taxpayers a lot of money, and keep the city a legal entity.
Cons: Joined the race at the last minute
District Attorney: Ryan Khojasteh
This probably won’t be a popular one amongst my readers.
This was also the one that took me the longest amount of research to decide.
There’s a lot of talk and news about how good a job the new DA is doing, but I frankly don’t see it. 2023 was the year with the highest number of overdose deaths, supposedly when people were being arrested for drug-related crimes. I still see a lot of broken glass on the streets. Business continue to get hit. In 2024 the machine cleaned up its act so it appears things are getting better (further proof that the “problems” are readily solvable).
There was a knee-jerk reaction after the recall and everything the previous DA was doing was seen as horribly destructive. Since Ryan worked for the recalled DA and immediately fired by the new one, the major influencers dismiss him by association, furthered by a lack of attention to detail and understanding of how the American Justice system5 is meant to operate. Ryan seems to have more of an understanding— see him in this interview where answering, “How would you have handled the Banko Brown case?” His background is also very different to that of Boudin’s, so I feel it unfair to group them as one.
The DA’s office is reactive, by definition, yet the mandate to establish Justice and insure domestic Tranquility stretches into the future. I get the sense that Ryan can strike the right balance of restitution and mercy required at common law.
Cons: True believer in some nonsense.
All that said, I really don’t see much of a difference if Brooke Jenkins continues to hold the office.
Supervisors (Ranked: #1, #2, …)
My district is not up for grabs. Here is how I would vote if it were:
District 1: Jeremiah Boehner
Another pretty obvious choice, given the incumbent and alternatives. His solutions are straightforward, simple, common-sensical, and easy to get public support behind. Has a lot of connection with the community, so will be able to make better calls and get more done than someone operating primarily from an ideological point of view, like the super he’d replace.
Cons: True believer in some nonsense
District 3: Wendy Ha Chau
Wendy is smart. Too smart to run for office. For example, she is the only candidate I’ve come across that calls out that fully refunding the police is not enough, they need proper training! Including constitutional training. So many candidates have jumped on the full police staffing bandwagon, blind to the root issues that got us here in the first place.
Cons: Doesn’t believe she’ll win without outspending her opponents
District 5: Allen Jones
I found this guy’s website and was very impressed. He’s got a lot of experience in our juvenile justice system, detailed writings and interesting ideas, and has worked as an engineering draftsman. He comes across as solutions-oriented— he thinks like an engineer, rather than problem-describing oriented— as party animals think. He is a Republican, and I’ve never heard any mention of him before in Republican circles.
Cons: Gay
“Instead of looking for fairness in life, look for the challenge.”
—Allen Jones
District 7: Stephen Martin-Pinto
When he ran in 2020, Stephen was the first Republican candidate to qualify for matching funds. He’s been consistent in his stance on police staffing, and is running this campaign on the same platform and messaging as his last. Meaning, the problems persist and he knows how to solve them.
Cons: Switched to NPP for stigma-avoidance reasons.
District 9: No Idea
District 11: Roger Marenco, Oscar Flores, Jose Morales
This district has some great candidates running; The district with the most best choices. I attended a debate hosted at the Muslim Community Center, and was really impressed by these candidates.
Roger Marenco has an interesting history being the president of the Muni union, TWU Local. He took the union from being severely in debt to solvent very quickly by opening the books and ending internal grifting practices. Other union members did not like this, called him racist etc, and banned him from becoming president. Three times. Listening to him at the debate, I kept thinking to myself, “man, this guy should run for mayor.” He speak along the same lines as Ellen Zhou. Knows that we have plenty of money in City Hall, has inside experience and proof of this, and is speaking openly about it.
Cons: Figured he would get into politics at a young age
Oscar Flores is native to the neighborhood, knows its issues, knows what to do. Ran a stealth campaign for a long time before announcing. He is strong in his faith and speaks up about things that others dare not say. He was the only one in the debate who answered the “What should local leaders do about the Israel war?” in a way that made sense. When he organizes outreach activities, he takes care to invite and include other candidates to their mutual benefit. No doubt would make a great supervisor.
Cons: Thinks too much when speeching
Jose Morales. Heard and met him at the debate for the first time. At first, I was a bit put off by his speaking because he sounded like a Democrat Tape Recorder, but after a while his substance came through and I really liked what he had to say. He’s running once; to get in and solve the problems. Not looking to be a career politician. Would also do well as a supervisor for his district.
Cons: TBD
SFUSD Board Member (Pick 4)
Click the names for their websites
Lefteris Eleftheriou
Lefteris has a background in engineering, education, and running schools. Has been calm and receptive to information when I’ve spoken to him.
Cons: Didn’t know who to choose for president.6 Maybe that’s changed.
Ann Hsu
Ann lost the last election because the SF Deep State pulled the racism card on a comment when Ann was speaking the truth. Clearly singled out amongst the three Breed appointees after the successful recall.
Cons: Apologized for being “racist,” when what she said was true
Min Chang
Min is very confident about solving the fiscal crisis we’ve allowed the district to get into, as she has experience specifically in this area, plus in running and growing organization. She running to solve the problems and to be remembered by posterity.
Cons: Can’t decide who she’d prefer as president.
Laurance Lem Lee
Laurance seems interestingly well positioned to assist with the fiscal crisis at hand, with an impressive trace record of enforcing the law and making sure money is spent properly.
Cons: Cannot volunteer for his campaign wearing Trump hat.
Community College Board (Pick 4)
I’ve spent the least amount of time researching this race so take these with the slightest pinch of salt.
Leanna Louie
The only candidate I met and know a little bit about. She’s level headed and is confident about what needs to be done.
Cons: TBD
+3 more.
Not quite sure who, but a friend suggested Ben Kaplan, so I’ll go with him (Trust).
Julio J. Ramos seems like an upstanding dude and is a family guy, so sounds good to me.
Heather McCarty is a professor at CCSF. Makes sense to me to have a professor on the board. Why not?
Propositions
Ah, yes, the propositions. Where we get to make important decisions on things that affect all of us, even those that are against the proposition. This is, technically, an illegal way to enforce decisions in a republic, but since nobody really cares about the law anyway, let’s have at it.
Local
A - No (Bond)
B - No (Bond)
C - No (New unnecessary position)
D - Yes (Reduce number of commissions)
E - No (Creates Task Force)
F - Yes (Changes police rules for the better)
G - No (Housing subsidies)
H - Yes (Firemen more benefits)
I - No (Nurses and 9/11 Dispatchers can purchase benefits at unfair advantage)
J - No (Creates mayoral initiative to ensure money well spent)
K - No (Closes Great Highway)
L - No (Autonomous Rideshare tax)
M - Yes (Changes tax structure for certain business taxes)
N - No (New fund with potential for future fraud)
O - No (Funds and promotes abortion)
State
2 - No (Bond)
3 - No (Marriage licenses are scams)
4 - No (Climate Change Bond)
5 - No (Bonds)
6 - No (Arbeit Macht Frei)
32 - No (Minimum Wage)
33 - No (Rent Control)
34 - Yes (Ends certain AIDs grifting)
35 - No (Medical mandates)
36 - Yes (The DA believes this needs this to pass for her do her job better
That’s all, folks.
There are people who do an immense amount of research into each candidate and ballot measure. For each of these, there are hundreds who vote based on party, and a couple hundred who vote on endorsements and news media spoon-feeding.
Varies depending on your news source
Adaptation of Mark Twain’s quote, “History Doesn't Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes”
Often found in those identifying as “Libertarian”, “Small Government Republican/Conservative”, or “Second Amendment Defender”
Lex Populi a/k/a common law, as opposed to Lex Regia, the IMPERIAL justice system, from which we broke from in 1776
This is, for me, a simple candidate litmus test, for two reasons.
Objective comparison of the policies, ignoring the emotional, political, and whining aspects presents a clear winner. The entire purpose of this operation was to make the decision so damn simple for even the lowest-information voters.
If you do know, and are not admitting it, what does that say about your ability to make unpopular decisions once in office? Your campaign for re-election starts on day one, and your ability to do the tough and necessary thing is inhibited if you are afraid of the judgement of your constituents, who may not have the same information as you.
As important as the presidential election is, local elections and infrastructure are more important in the long run. Especially in this one, where Trump has promised that he will win.
Granted, the goal is to win the election, and the advice many candidates get is to stay away from the issue. It may be a smart move, but Agenda47 presents a compelling vision for the future that many people— even those who hate Trump— can get behind. A slate unified on applying those principles locally would be incredibly powerful.
How so?
For BART Board District 9 do not choose either candidate. they are both awful choices. either leave it blank or write in someone.