"A Voter's Lament" or "I Voted Today"

I have never missed voting in an election. The big ones are easy. Presidential elections, gubernatorial, Senate and the House; all of these have major campaigns and hopefully they have gotten their ideologies out to the public, (although more likely they have smeared their opponents with attack ads and you are left trying to asses a candidates position by figuring out what their opponents have not attacked them on...but I digress).

However, it is the little town elections, when the biggest race is mayor, or city council, or board of education, that I have the hardest time with. You would think these little dinky elections would be easy, right? I would have too, but they just suck for someone who is obsessed with being involved in the election process as I am.

When I was 18 and living at home, I would get the low down on the candidates from my dad, who was involved in politics at the local level. He would basically get out the ballot in the newspaper and rate each candidate on two categories: Were they an asshole and what issues they supported. I would like to say that the issues won out over assholedness, but I can't. All of his opinions were based on inside information; you really can't rate the asshole level of a candidate without getting involved in city council.

So now here I am, in a different state and screwed. Without my dad giving me the low down, I have to assess each candidate on my own. There is no way I am getting involved with local politics; my civic engagement stops at voting. And the newspaper is no help. There was no platform statements or track records or a nifty color graph charting the asshole level of each candidate. What are you to do?

Maybe I could find someone who had some insights on the local races. Well, I am afraid to say that few people share my civic sense of responsibility. I could only find one colleague who had voted. I asked her about her strategy. She shared my frustration of the lack of information available for local politicians so she came up with a strategy of her own. She said she voted for all women. I think she was working under the assumption that women are less likely to be assholes then men. Interesting theory, but I need to see some evidence to support it.

At the end of the day I still knew nothing about the candidates on my ballot. As I got closer to my polling station, the anxiety level rose. My worse fear was to help put or keep an asshole in office. Is voting blindly worse than not voting at all?

As I pulled into the parking lot of the polling site, I was pretty worried about the implication of what I was about to do and then I had something more than an idea but less than an epiphany. Perhaps it was a brainstorm? I don't know what it was but it felt right at the time.

What occurred to me was that I pretty much have found most politicians to be cloying and insincere. I have especially felt this way the last eight years. The wrong people are getting into office. If this is true than I should vote for only people that would unseat an incumbent candidate. Full shift of power. So that is what I did. I voted for all the challengers. I imagine voting blindly like this would make the founding members of America cringe, but hey what is more American than blurting out an opinion without any information to back it up.

I have no idea if that was the right strategy, voting for all challengers to seats. However, in life I have found that it is almost always right to route for the underdog.

Too Much Information

The office that I work in gets a multitude of mail promoting anything that would be an interesting and entertaining to bring to a college campus. Believe me when I tell you that it can run the gamut.
Today, a president of a club brought to my attention a small postcard advertising a gentleman that claims to be an "Explorer, Wildlife Handler, Lecturer, Author".

The name of this wildlife expert?

Rusty Johnson

Trapped in the Boondocks

I have to apologize for the failure to update for the past few months. I would love to tell you it was due to a pilgrimage to Nepal to learn ancient blogging arts to combat evil and bring the funny, but really I have been uninspired to write anything.

However, tonight I have been inspired to write, and I hope you in turn will be inspired to do two things which I will list later.

So why now I am I posting, you ask with baited breath?

Well because this Sunday night at 11:00 eastern time, the next great television show premieres. Aaron McGruder's "The Boondocks" airs on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.

Never heard of "The Boondocks"? Well you have a lot of catching up to do. The Boondocks is a comic strip involving two kids living with their grandfather. 10 year old Huey is how I imagine a pre-teen Calvin of "Calvin and Hobbes" would turn out. Politically astute, and well spoken; Huey points out the ridiculousness of today's society in a way that is always funny.

His 8 year old brother Riley is a product of the Hip-Hop generation and is a great foil to Huey. Both kids have grown up in the city. However, upon retirement, their grandfather moved them to suburbia and now they most live in a rich neighborhood where the hypocrisy around them knows no bounds.

Based on what I read, the satire in the television show will not be as current as the strip (each episode has been in development for over a year). However it sounds like it takes the issues head on. The people at Cartoon Network gave them full creative control and, from what I have read and seen, they have used it.

If you are curious about this great comic strip and show, check out the following links:

The Comic Strip
The TV Show
A Review
Some Reading


Now for the 2 things you can do for me that I mentioned earlier:

1. Watch "The Boondocks" this Sunday at 11:00 pm on The Cartoon Network.
2. Let me know if you missed me in my long hiatus. A comment or two may just be the inspiration I have been looking for!