Life is a Carnival, Two Bits a Shot.

Photo by Leo

Another election day approaches. Not as big as the 4-year event, but kinda like the play off before the World Series. Out here, elections are big things, so big that when things go awry, no one hesitates to petition a recall. No matter if the elected one gets 80% of the vote. Nope, not out here in Arizona. Someone will come along, petition in tow, and form a committee to dump someone because, well, because of anything from not liking how they keep their yards to the fact that their tinted glasses are too dark. Our allegiances have disappeared and we wallow in extrinsic decisions.

Americans, God love us, cherish democracy , but haven't the slightest idea on how to use it.

Arizona holds the distinction this year of being the state with the most initiatives, amendments and referrendums on the ballot, a total of 19. 8 of them are constitutional amendments, 2 are referrendums, the final 9 are initiatives.

The amendments are easy, basically change the constitution. So too the initiatives, which are the people petitioning and essentially making law. The referrendums are referred from the state legislature to the electorate, requesting them to make the final decision.

As much as I respect the Democratic process, I can't help but be cynical. First off, the turnout will be low, probably a lot less than 50%. Secondly, we'll end up with those 19 issues being decided by a bunch of people (us) who will have, by and large, spent less time than the legislators even reading the issue. Most of the legislators have their aides give them synopsis of the issues, sort of a Cliff Notes version of the issues. Finally, most of these issues we the people are supposed to make decisions on will end up being challenged in the courts and never even become laws anyways. Billions down the drain. Flushhhhhhh.

The process has become the problem rather than the solution. It's Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan. It's a mythical monster that survives with or without constituents. Face it, when Jesus comes to take us home, the bureaucracy will most likely continue to run for eternity. People are no longer in charge. Electorate or elected, neither can work or decide efficiently any more.

Solution? I have none. I'm still in the ask a question stage.

I end with a memorial to a more definitive time.

Seasonal Anxiety

Photo by Leo

This time of year, with the beginning of the winter at hand, my mind wanders easily into those areas of grim reality, those bothersome shards of depression that seem so prevalent. Fall now, too often, brings sadness and doom, an uneasiness that comes with the seasonal change. It's still light but darkness is imminent. It's not dark yet but it's getting there.

There was a time when a guy like me waited for days like these, days when it would be so bright, then grey early and night would come with an anxious urgency. It was dark and night was fun, off to see your girl after a busy day that now was ending even though it would still be a long time 'til it was really finished. The darkness was comfort, a shield from the harshness of the day gone by. It was time to be free, release from the pressures and stresses of the day, walking briskly, hands in pockets, to the waiting arms of one who loved you most and best. She'd be waiting and bring you in with a smile of youth and passion that enveloped you, a brief glimpse of later.

Alas, there's no going back. But at least the memories can brighten the impending darkness and remind you that there was once a time when the plagues of life were few and the love you shared was the most important thing that you had.