It's that time once again. Time to vote for the equal of two evils.
I'm standing in line outside Pasco county's precinct 6 polling station at the Alice Hall Community Center, waiting to get in to vote in the 2020 election. It's about a fifteen minute wait for the socially distanced citizens of the polity of Pasco County. All looks ordered. There is the usual flurry of lawn propaganda sixty feet from the polling station, or however far the restraining order for political lying is. Why can’t it include the whole country?
This morning I pondered the ballot, weak and weary, hoping the correct candidate would present itself upon this Plutonian shore. The choices for chief executive were no better than last time-I think they plan it that way. Trump or Harris? War with China or war with Russia? More color revolutions in our streets? Quote the pundit, How should I know?
I think I’ll just ignore that looming beartrap for now and look at the rest of the ballot. Let’s see what corrupt crooks we have here… Representative in Congress, State Senator, State Representative. These are all sufficiently far away and the incumbents are all republicans. I’ve been a liberal all my life back to before they were complete fascists. Old habits die hard, even in the face of overwhelming contrary evidence. I’ll just vote for the democratic candidate, whoever he or she might be, just to be true to archaic principals. Maybe they have some scruples, it could happen. Or maybe it will turn out as usual.
Superintendent of Schools. County Commissioners. Mosquito Control Commissioners? We need more than one of those? I suppose. These are all positions that might actually affect me. Better vote for the incumbent. We haven’t been overwhelmed by biting insects yet, so I guess they are doing the king’s work. Even though one of the alternate candidates is from the NPA. As much as I’d like that to mean National Pale Ale party, I think I’ll keep on the incumbent wagon for this one. They appear to be competent, or at least they haven’t gotten caught. And for the Supreme Court Justice and the Second District Court of Appeals, they only have one candidate each anyway. Should Justice/Judge So-in-so be retained in office? Yes/No? What happens if they get voted out?
Now come the constitutional amendments. Citizenship requirements to vote in Florida elections? That seems like a no brainer. If you are going to vote in Florida, you should be a citizen in Florida. That’s kind of what citizenship means.
Raise the minimum wage? Sure. It’s not my money.
Allow all voters, regardless of party affiliation, to vote in Florida primary elections? Now that is a really bad idea. Who came up with that one, anyway? The same people who came up with jerrymandering? This would allow democrats to vote in republican primaries and vica-verca, so each side would vote for the biggest bozo on the other side’s ticket. Actually, it can’t be any worse than it is now.
Require two elections to approve constitutional amendments? Huh? One election isn’t enough? Are constitutional amendments like biscuits? They have to be twice baked? Well, maybe it would prevent people from stuffing the ballots with wacky amendments during those loser, off year elections.
And a couple of amendments relating to Homestead Property Tax Assessments. Whatever. That takes care of constitutional law.
Shit. Now it’s back to the Figurehead in Chief. I now must consider those two ovals deciding the occupant of the oval office and the fate of the Republic. Actually, there are more than two candidates for president. There are five more tediums on the ballot. One of them named Tom Blankenship. Seriously? President Blankenship? Is that a character in a Mel Brooks movie? Something out of Rocky Horror Election Show?
I thought of writing in Tulsi Gabbard to make a statement. She was the only candidate who addressed the issues and had some credibility. You know: Doomed. Of course, in our Make it and Bake it, Electoral College democracy, the only statement I could make would be, “I’m not serious about democracy.” We really should have more of a European multi-party system. Sure. That’ll happen. The venerable two-party system is not about to let in some proletariats. So, we’re back to the, Two men enter-One man leaves, race for the White House. And what exactly do the candidates have to offer?
What can we say for Trump over the past four years? He didn’t start any new wars, which is good considering how the country has been operating over the past thirty years. Most of his spear waving and posturing was quietly deflated once the media beams turned elsewhere, which is diplomacy, of sorts. He did assassinate a foreign general who was on a diplomatic mission in a war torn nation, which is generally frowned upon in the civilized world.
He didn’t drain the swamp, which is bad but unsurprising. That swamp is furiously resilient. About the best he has managed is to poke a few swamp creatures in the eye, drag his heels on bombing some third world countries, and that’s about it. And he made a fool of himself on any number of occasions. Oh, and murdering that general? That has brought us a rising tide of armed resistance and lack of credibility and influence around the world. Oops.
Of course, the democrats have been furious at him from the beginning which is when I really started questioning my allegiances. I somehow thought we would be better than that, but the democrats have been no more than the Stick-in-the-Spokes party for the past four years. Much like the republicans under Obama, so I guess I shouldn’t blame either of them for being the faces of a shipwrecked Janus. Churchill did say we get the government we deserve.
Biden, I’m not sure what Biden stands for. The democratic party and the liberal left in this country are starting to resemble many progressive liberal parties in the past. They have great ideas for reforms and freedom which progress to self-righteousness and authoritarianism, then censorship and suppression, and end up producing Robespierres, Stalins, Maos, and Hitlers. Animal Farm, anyone? Someone needs whisper, “Remember thou art mortal,” into each party’s ear. That used to be the job of academia and the fourth estate.
Now who watches the watchers and who tallies the accounts of tyrants?
I hope I’m wrong and history will take a mulligan this time. On many other occasions in history things could have turned out much worse had cooler heads not prevailed. Maybe it will happen this time. I’m probably letting my own emotions take the reins, but I just can’t accept Donald Trump as anything other than a narcissistic buffoon with no concept of diplomacy or politics, good or bad. I voted for Hillary last time because I thought she was at least a professional politician and could be persuaded to negotiate, unlike Trump whose negotiation skills came from the script writers of the Apprentice with no basis in reality.
OK. I’ll vote for placeholder Biden and ultimate candidate Harris. Why not?
