Doing My Part
Monday, November 06, 2006
Have you heard? Election day is tomorrow. Control of the Senate and Congress may be up for grabs. Will Harold Ford prevail in Tennessee? Has Angelides truly run a piss-poor campaign that will lose him the gubernatorial election in California, as my mother claims? (Actually, yes, we really don’t need to wait to find out on that score I don’t think.) Will it be Kean or Menedez in New Jersey? Will Allen’s racist slip-up cost him, or will it be Webb’s salacious literary turns that decide the future senator of Virginia? And, please, someone, tell me! What will all of this spell for 2008?
I’m dead positive we won’t have to wait for long for all the annoying pundits (I’m looking at you, Mary Matalin and James Carville) to weigh in on all of this and more.
Anyway, yes, election day, and time for me to vote, even if the New York elections are pretty much a foregone conclusion. It’s my duty as a citizen, and I like to follow politics here and there. Also, it’s really fun to pull the lever thingies on the positively ancient machines here in New York. I like to think of it as just a little extra weight training for my morning, really, given they're practically rusted shut.
When looking up my polling place today, it occurred to me that I didn’t even know who was running against Spitzer for Governor. I decided it was time to study up. (The Republican candidate is someone named John Faso, and I legitimately have no idea who he is. Though the Green Party candidate is Malachy McCourt which, come to think of it, I did hear about, and hey! He’s an author and he's Irish! Rock on! And, erm yes, I know I said I follow politics, but I meant on a more national level. Or something.)
Anyway, as I scrolled through everyone running, I decided I needed to brush up on what the party abbreviations meant since I had no earthly idea what NCR or RVC or FDM stood for. There was a handy index of 2006 Party Abbreviations, so I took a look. And, wow. I never knew there were so many choices. They don’t call this the land of the free for nothing, let me tell you. I read on.
So, you’ve got your Republicans, Democrats, Independents, blah blah blah. Then it got interesting. Working Families? Huh. Didn’t know about them. I suppose it’s a worthy cause, to be for working families, but I don’t know—maybe it’s a euphamism for something else. Which could also easily go for the North Country Reform party or the Rising Voices Coalitions. What does that even mean, Rising Voices Coalition? Then there’s the Right to Life, Socialist Workers, and both the School Tax Relief and Taxpayer Relief parties. I get the first two and, eh, not really my thing; I’d need to research what exactly the “relief” would be comprised of in the third and fourth.
On to the totally ambiguous titles: Unity, Freedom, Growth, and Integrity parties. Well, doggone! I’m for all of those things. But I suspect that there’s more to these than meets the eye. So, I don’t know. I’m wasn’t ready to change my alliances just yet.
But then—then it got specific. And I have to tell you—I started to think about things in a new way. The name, well, the name was so clear; the mission, stated! There was no confusion whatsoever, and that clarity—well, it spoke to me, in a way no other party’s name ever has or could. It seized me, people, and I thought, yes! You are right! I agree! Frankly, I couldn’t agree more! Why, I complain about this at LEAST once a week! So, yes, count me in!
Bottom line: I’ve been successfully recruited. To the RENT IS TOO HIGH party.
God, I love this city sometimes.
I’m dead positive we won’t have to wait for long for all the annoying pundits (I’m looking at you, Mary Matalin and James Carville) to weigh in on all of this and more.
Anyway, yes, election day, and time for me to vote, even if the New York elections are pretty much a foregone conclusion. It’s my duty as a citizen, and I like to follow politics here and there. Also, it’s really fun to pull the lever thingies on the positively ancient machines here in New York. I like to think of it as just a little extra weight training for my morning, really, given they're practically rusted shut.
When looking up my polling place today, it occurred to me that I didn’t even know who was running against Spitzer for Governor. I decided it was time to study up. (The Republican candidate is someone named John Faso, and I legitimately have no idea who he is. Though the Green Party candidate is Malachy McCourt which, come to think of it, I did hear about, and hey! He’s an author and he's Irish! Rock on! And, erm yes, I know I said I follow politics, but I meant on a more national level. Or something.)
Anyway, as I scrolled through everyone running, I decided I needed to brush up on what the party abbreviations meant since I had no earthly idea what NCR or RVC or FDM stood for. There was a handy index of 2006 Party Abbreviations, so I took a look. And, wow. I never knew there were so many choices. They don’t call this the land of the free for nothing, let me tell you. I read on.
So, you’ve got your Republicans, Democrats, Independents, blah blah blah. Then it got interesting. Working Families? Huh. Didn’t know about them. I suppose it’s a worthy cause, to be for working families, but I don’t know—maybe it’s a euphamism for something else. Which could also easily go for the North Country Reform party or the Rising Voices Coalitions. What does that even mean, Rising Voices Coalition? Then there’s the Right to Life, Socialist Workers, and both the School Tax Relief and Taxpayer Relief parties. I get the first two and, eh, not really my thing; I’d need to research what exactly the “relief” would be comprised of in the third and fourth.
On to the totally ambiguous titles: Unity, Freedom, Growth, and Integrity parties. Well, doggone! I’m for all of those things. But I suspect that there’s more to these than meets the eye. So, I don’t know. I’m wasn’t ready to change my alliances just yet.
But then—then it got specific. And I have to tell you—I started to think about things in a new way. The name, well, the name was so clear; the mission, stated! There was no confusion whatsoever, and that clarity—well, it spoke to me, in a way no other party’s name ever has or could. It seized me, people, and I thought, yes! You are right! I agree! Frankly, I couldn’t agree more! Why, I complain about this at LEAST once a week! So, yes, count me in!
Bottom line: I’ve been successfully recruited. To the RENT IS TOO HIGH party.
God, I love this city sometimes.
This entry was posted
on Monday, November 06, 2006 at 6:17 PM.
|
