For my overseas readers (which includes Canada, just miles north of here on a snowmobile) I would like you to take a gander at how we do things here on the election front. It’s not all nasty as the media would have you believe.
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Tuesday night I attended my caucus. Caucus is a Latin word for “too many sweaty people crammed into a noisy room after dinner.”
My caucus was held in the same building that the Democratic Farm Labor party held theirs. They were upstairs, we were downstairs. They stole all our signs, we left theirs alone.
Seated next to me at the Republican caucus was a college student. On the other side, an older woman. One white, one black. Around the table we had an assortment of groundskeepers, technicians, teachers, small business owners, union members, and one attorney. He was to be forgiven based on the fact that he’s an immigrant from Australia. That buys you a lot of rope when you’re a young person who clearly worked your butt off to get where you are in this world – no special treats for him except hard work.
Nobody pounded on the table. Nobody was rude to another. Everyone was quite civil. We had about 20 people in my ward/precinct. We elected officers and delegates to the next level. We handed out ballots. We voted. We tallied ballots. We left.
The next day I stopped at the Mojo Monkey Donuts near my house. I got a box of donuts. I included one for a coworker who went to the other caucus, will vote for the other candidate, and who will still be my friend when this whole thing is over in November. He got a donut with red frosting because that’s what he wanted last week. No significance to the color. Just the odds are good that it would be tasty. It was – I got one for myself.
Tomorrow we will all endorse/root for/hope for/pray for candidates different than others. I plan on remaining civil. I also plan on responding with full fury if someone impinges upon my right to vote as I choose, or to display a yard sign. I will not do that to others. It is un-American. In my city, which is heavily Democrat, it happens all the time. Republican and Libertarian signs get trashed all the time. But I won’t retaliate.
In November, we will go to the poles. There will be cheating. There always is. I think that voter identification would stop a lot of it (*I was a poll-watcher a few times and it’s pretty blatant*) and not take away anyone’s rights. But there are other ways to cheat, and the vermin among us will always seek a host for a free ride. It’s sad.
After the election we will all bitch and moan about the results. Some will gloat. Some will mourn. The odds of tanks and troops in the streets on November 9 is infinitesimal. In February of 2017 we will have a new President. Hopefully not a convicted/soon to be convicted/felon.
Life will go on. Better or worse, it will go on.
I can’t say that about any other country. Except Canada. They have Hockey Night. Nobody with Hockey Night could be all bad.
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