01st Nov 2004
Two Other Countries
New York City and the SF Bay Area are two places that are like countries unto themselves. They’re so different in temperment and outlook than much of the USA.
And since I flit between the two (back to California on Friday), it’s hard for me to predict what will happen on Election Day. In the countries of Bay Area and Gotham, we will have elected a President Kerry. Our respective populations are a bit more politically clued in than the mindless Walmart Nation mainstream. We tend to be a bit more savvy on foreign policy than the “Freedom Fries” idiots. We don’t choose our president on the basis of one pet issue (like Social Security), and blindy ignore what’s really going on in the world outside our ticky tacky tract houses. We understand really basic distinctions such as “church” and “state”. And we sure don’t let fearmongers control our votes. We’re not the Tupperware Vote, or the Not So Good Ole Boys.
So it’s with great anxiety that we wait for the election outcome over the next 36 hours. New York and the Bay Area are a given, but will we roll our eyes in disgust over how much of the country votes? One wants to trick the GOPpy people into reading more tabloids on November 2nd, or hanging on to that remote control to watch one more “reality” show. Tell them they can still vote on the 3rd.
My hope would be for a landslide in either direction (for Kerry, or, for Kerry!). The fact that the polls are a toss up means that we have a very divided country right now, and that won’t fade away come Inauguration Day. We really need a mandate. Will the youth vote make a difference? Will the people who would waste a vote on Nader get an 11th hour clue? Will we ever get rid of the anachronism of the Electoral College?
… and, exhale.
So I’ll stay mostly within the two other countries of New York City and SF Bay Area, where there seems to be some notion of politics grounded in reality. Hopefully the rest of the populace will join us in taking our country back on November 2nd. It is not a country “by and for the corporations, or the religious right who would dictate science”. Is it for the people, and should be governed by someone who has a working intellect, and who has earned their right to be on the scene. Let the people speak with their votes, unimpeded, with freedom and ballot receipts for all.
