fractalnavel

how did this happen?

convenient website: hamilton county board of elections.  now that's interesting.  i wonder when i registered.  i almost feel obligated now, especially considering i can probably hit the polls with a baseball from here.

there's a (practical?) point to voting i hadn't considered, but craig brought it up:  there are sometimes cute women there.  heeyyy, now there's a thought...

and there's also a ballot view.  that's cool.  nothing like walking in and saying “huh?.  what's with all the judges running unopposed ? odd.

blah.  two minor tax issues, a bunch of unopposed candidates, and the us and state races.  not much fun or interest.  but then there's the ohio consitutional amendment on gay marriage.  interesting.  but then i don't understand why that's even there.  people are such neanderthals.  no offense to neanderthals.

i ddn't know it was this close...

nah, almost had me.  not worth the time.  the only one that interested me was the county engineer race, except that he's running unopposed.  that explains a lot around here.  no, wait, that's unfair - i'm thinking about traffic engineering.  roads and such like.  if he's responsible for that, i recant my recant.

it's a brain salad surgery sort of day:

well, finally.  election day.  here at last.  not being one to follow the crowd, it's odd to be writing on a topic which i'm sure is being covered in a hundred thousand other blogs, perhaps millions.  and not just in the u.s. either. what can i add to the discussion ?  not much. just airing out my own thoughts here.  therapeutic, perhaps.

what always strikes me at these times is this deep sense of disappointment - with the proccesss, the candidates, the people of the u.s, and indeed, throughout the world.  but honestly, it's the reactions of the people i know that bothers me the most.  i guess that's inevitable.  and they are likely to be the only audience this blog has.  if any.  besides myself.  so, to proceed, at best i only piss 'em all off.  what do you say, self, is it worth it ?

nah.  they don't get it anyway.  been trying to talk to them for several years now.  at best they seem to politely listen, getting it or not, and kindly suggest that my perspective is too far out, so much so as to be invalid.  or impractical.  and at worst, i get these “shut up, who the hell are you” kinda reactions, even before i've said anything (must be my sorry reputation).  this usually happens when something practical is happening.  but most of the time, i get somewhat politely ignored.  perhaps that is the best i can expect.

seems like a digression.  what's that got to do with politics ?  everything.  it's how we relate.  given the reaction from family and friends, who are in no way mainstream folks themsleves, why would i suppose any better fit with the world at large ?  and that's what an election is - a grand dramatic attempt to fit reality to our desires, en masse.  and it's this exposition of desires that bothers me. as always, i can't help but sit here and shake my head.  is this the best we can do ?

the trivial answer is yes, 'cause that's what we're doing.  and yes, i said i'm just sitting here.  i don't vote.  i got some small urge this time around.  but i know how meaningless my views are in that context, as i explained above.  people who talk about “every vote counts”, leave out the finish to that phrase: “for me”.  bad discussion.  first they want you to vote, then they want you to vote for a major candidate, then they want you to vote for their major candidate.  not too subtle.

so i'll sit this one out.  and, eventually, everyone will go back and pretend all this crap didn't happen, between friends, between family.  i kind of feel bad that i didn't spend more time listening to find out why various people made the decisions they had.  i'm too inclined to immediately challenge any points i disagree with.  i need to delay that reaction.  patience.  and in fact, the challenges need to be set aside altogether.  live and try to learn, i guess.

meanwhile, the show goes on.  what a farce.  i hear minor echoes from many corners of the globe.  but it's drowned out in the cacophony of those who believe.  and that's just it.  democracy is another religion, a value system, a type of moral ruler that people measure themselves by - and whack each other with.  everyone normally focuses on their differences in these times.  but what's scarier is the similarities.  a close look at what the major candidates agree on, and that no one seeems to challenge, is far more enlightening than any particular conflict. and not so much about them, but about the people.  and it's not just the stance on various issues, but the agreement that they are the issues.  the reflex answer to that is that some things are obvious.  my response is that they've been made so.  we lead ourselves around by the nose.  i'll have a glass of group-think, thank you.  hold the lemon.

and beyond all the explicit “issues”, there are all the underlying assumptions.  that's where i have the most fun, where all the sacred cows are hidden.  unfortunately, it's also taboo.  reactions to trespasses here are varied, but all of them carry an element of disuasion.

anyway, has it occurred to anyone that this dead heat stuff indicates not a split in the nation, but a case of passionate indifference ?  the major choices are a jekyl/hyde thing.  i don't know which is which.  even most minor ones are that way as well.  why are we stuck with such bozos ?  it's in the imagining of ideal that we can do ourselves the most service.  but it seems even imaginations have been shackled.

sigh.  wandering in my head now.  time for another cup of white castle coffee.