I'm Right Again Dot Com

A new commentary every Wednesday                November 12, 2014


About the mid-term election of 2014

    As many of you did, I voted early and returned my "mail-in" ballot promptly. I learned over the weekend that a flume-full of last minute ballots were sequestered for weeks by a great number of voters who had requested early ballots, but for reasons known only to themselves, held onto them until the last possible second. The local system was overwhelmed when the deluge hit the hopper.

  Perhaps you can share the reason why you think so many "not so early" voters were hesitant in returning them to the outgoing mailbox. When they did mail them just barely in time to be counted, or showed up at the polling places with long-held ballots in their hands, the system became constipated—so much so, that now it's been over a week and as I compose this, we still don't know whether some of our choices were vindicated. Is this not the "computer age?" (Don't bother to talk to Indirha or Machmoud in Bangladesh)

    Why voting has degenerated into such an easily avoided responsibility for two thirds of the electorate is difficult to understand—for the choices of legislators is so critical to every aspect of our lives. Could it be that a change in politicians and parties has brought so little benefit to the vast majority of us, and we realize that  the gulf between the very wealthy and the rest of us continues to widen, no matter what?  

    Might I suggest a drive-through booth where voters could make their choices and receive a free cheeseburger as a bonus for voting? I'm positive that the bidding war among fast-food establishments to gain this franchise would make a fortune. Large soft-drinks, where establishments make a fantastic margin, would of course, be even more costly than usual, insuring huge profits for the enterprise.

    Better yet, a humongous National Lottery might draw a greater response, by offering a free chance to win a great portion of the gold in Fort Knox to each eligible citizen who complies by voting. There is some risk in trying this, for the courts could decide that one need not be a citizen to qualify. Really. The manner in which jurists are ruling "for the public good" of late is incomprehensible.  

    Was it because laggards and non-voters were not satisfied with either candidate, or disenchanted with the whole system where billionaires and major corporations are allowed to buy offices with untold millions of dollars spent on advertising that tended to turn progressively more ugly as election day approached. Cannot a law provide us relief from this onslaught? This is not reasonable, fair or democratic. Nothing of benefit accrues to society. Only the media benefits from this tsunami of money.

    We all should be mad as hell and not put up with this any more. Tell your members of Congress and Senators how you feel about this...and keep reminding them often. Please.

    How many candidates will prove by their decisions on legislation that they sold their souls to the company store? Let's have a show of hands. Who believes that the big corporations and billionaires who bought many offices and issues do not expect a return on their investments? And, please don't try to tell a person who spent his lifetime in the advertising business that "advertising doesn't pay."

    So, how did you feel about the outcome? Remember please, that this question comes from a person who has not been deeply affected for very long by a lifetime of voting for losers. I mean really big losers. I shall not identify any of them. Time and tide has long since erased most recriminations from my memory, so I shall not recount by name those for whom I voted last week, either. Let's just say this Oracle didn't vote for www.100% winners. dot com. As a registered Independent, my ballot looked as if I had used a shotgun to mark it up—and even that didn't elevate my "elected/defeated" average.

    Pima County, Arizona had an issue about which the vast majority of local voters agreed that we desperately need to finance a whole new animal care center for our castoff pets. Bravo! Plaudits to the many volunteers who pressed this issue to victory. Wherever you read this, if you like animals, it may be a good thing to see how your local authority deals with the inhumane conditions that an exploding pet population has wrought. Tucsonans said they were willing to pay to change the situation for animals.

      Now, as the late Rodney King was reported to have said, "Can't we all just get along" on some other badly needed national issues that demand change for we beleaguered humans. We can hope, can't we?

-Phil Richardson, Curmudgeon, Observer and Storyteller.

PS: It's the economy, stupid.


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