Photo by LeoAnother 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.
2 comments:
Voting. I know it's a big deal, but it's so hard! I'm expected to think deeply about, for example, how inheritance tax should be administered and how big a fortune should be handed on before the tax is applied. I'm not saying this isn't important, but you know what? I've only got so many hours in the day and there are nineteen of these things! Shall I spend an hour a day for nineteen days pondering them one at a time?
I'm running out of eggs. The furniture needs polishing. My accountant wants me to allocate another million dollars to charity and I have to decide who is worthy. And I promised to walk my neighbor's dog, and I'm supposed to volunteer at the carwash.
It's amazing people vote at all! Let alone vote intelligently.
Ack. Politics has become a pimp's game. Probably always has been, it's just so much more blatant now. All you can say with any certainty about any elected official is that many people did not vote for him/her.
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