American politics are weird. There is a huge disconnect between the symbolically important elections and the practically important elections. Many voters are suckered in by the symbolism and ignore the practical. In other words, they vote in the elections for the “Big” positions, like President, Senator, and maybe even Governor, but they sit out the…
I voted today. That’s no shock. I’ve voted in every election, primary, referendum, and ballot question since I turned 18. Voting is very, very important to me. Every time before today, I’ve been an enthusiastic voter. Today, I don’t think I could have been less enthusiastic. I’m lucky I made it to the polls myself….
The Democratic nomination of Joe Biden is basically settled. Realistically, it has been since the beginning of March. But many states, including my own, still have primaries upcoming. In some cases, there are still primary races for non-presidential contests. For most of us in these states, though, we have been disenfranchised from the primary process….
“Vote blue no matter who,” has been the catch phrase of the anti-Trump movement in the 2020 election. I’m not against the sentiment. It’s been true for as long as I can remember. I don’t know why it took Trump to make everyone realize that the Republicans are evil. They have been my entire life….
We are a week away from election day. Typically, odd-year elections get extremely poor turnout at the polls. That’s always bothered me. People are always saying that they wish they could make a difference (or the related statement that they are disappointed that they can’t make a difference). Realistically, odd-year elections are the time when…
Here we are again, about a week from a big election. So, here I am again, encouraging everyone who might read this to vote. It’s taking more effort than usual to write this little plea. I’m seeing a lot of pieces out there lately that are rationalizing people’s decision to forgo voting. They range from…
We are fast approaching an off year election. We are not electing a president or a new congress. That means most people won’t bother to vote and that’s just wrong. Off year elections have a huge impact on our day to day lives. They are when we elect our mayors, our town councils and our…
I have a problem with the election coverage. No one is talking about it. The election is in less than two weeks and it seems like most people don’t even know who’s running, let alone who to vote for. How is a democracy supposed to work when elections get ignored. If the press would do…
Today, as I do most everyday, I was scrolling through 3 Quarks Daily. In case you don’t know, it’s an excellent site. Once a week, on Monday, they have a collection of original essays. The rest of the week, they are a high quality aggregator. Instead of the usual headlines, they tend to feature longer works dealing with…
When I went to vote on November 4th, I brought my 3 year old daughter with me. As 3 year olds are likely to do, she asked a lot of questions, “What is voting? Why do you have to vote? Can I vote? Are you voting no? What’s that marker for? Can I draw on…
