Samhain Fallowturn Moon
Filled in the ovals with black ink. No. No. Amendments. Yes. Obama, Klobuchar. With faint disdain. No. Bachman. Yes. Graves. The rest, less feeling. House of Representatives. Council person. County Commissioner. Less feeling because the latter two have no candidates I like and on the first my guy has no chance.
Good news, though. Lines were steady even at 10 in the morning. The church parking lot was full. Good turnout usually mean good things for Democrats, so I’m heartened.
Walt Whitman’s poem published below was about an election in 1884, 128 years ago. That’s a long stretch for a democracy, peaceful transitions of power. Remarkable, really, given world history. Even when we consider moving to Canada or Monaco (depending on your feared winner) we do so from political repugnance, not out of fear of political reprisals or partisan violence.
I feel optimistic about this election in that I think candidates I prefer will, largely, prevail. I fell less optimistic about this evenly divided country in the near term future. Our current intractable differences make for vilification, not compromise, and we need movement on so many issues, among them entitlement reform, climate change and controlling the costs of healthcare.
