Electioneering 11.06.03

Yesterday I walked into my house, a little damp from the mist, headphones hanging off the strap of my backpack. My mother asked me if I was going to vote. I told her I was thinking of not voting.

She shooed me out of the house with a swift “What’s that?” that meant more like “Boy, you better go to that polling place and do your civic duty!”

I found out that I was, apparently, STILL registered to vote in Brooklyn, though I called the voting registration folks twice last year to correct that.

I thought one thing was interesting—there was hardly anything on the ballot, besides the sneaky non-partisan election proposition. Basically, it intends to do away with party primaries and allow anyone to enter the race at the primary level. I loved the wording the best. I read, “freedom, everybody gets a little piece of the electoral game of chance!” But we now know what happens in California. “The rich and famous get the best piece of the electoral game of chance.” I thought about the literature that came to the house, asking me to save politics from party bosses.

Party bosses. They could have dropped a reference to Boss Tweed and the Tammany Hall Machine while they were at it. I don’t know who any of these party bosses are. I DO know who Mike Bloomberg and Steve Forbes and who many other rich and influential CEO’s -- many of them living in New York-- are. That’s where the power lies, and that’s where any steps at making the electoral process more egalitarian have to start.

In a completely unrelated note, while listening to Aaliyah’s “Rock the Boat," I realized that song has almost nothing to do with the pleasures of sailing! Work the middle, indeed. That doesn’t mean ANYTHING in the world of sailing!!!