...is a bit of a let down, actually. We, too, are having marvelous weather (similar to that reported in the East and the Midwest), with the sun actually visible for the first morning in weeks (when it hasn't been raining cats and dogs in recent mornings, it has been foggy and overcast). But there are no lines at the polling places: Oregon is a mail-in ballot state. We all voted a week (or two) ago.
Mail-in balloting is wonderful for getting around long lines at the polls and complaints that voters couldn't take enough time off work to vote. You have three weeks to sit at your kitchen table and make considered decisions about a handful of intentionally confusedly-worded referendums (and all those local judges and Water Commissioners who don't advertise) rather than having to crib "Smith not Jones" and "#53 - Yes", "#67 - No" on a post-it note and hope you got them right, standing behind the curtain with a long line of impatient voters behind you.
Mail-in balloting, however, loses all the excitement of the polling place. I often used to have tears in my eyes as I marched up to the booth, feeling the excitement of joining my fellow citizens in the local elementary school gym. I'd proudly wear my "I Voted" sticker all day, and pet strange dogs and give hearty hails to colleagues I otherwise despised, on Election Day, simply chuffed by the whole patriotic exercise of Democracy. There's no chuffedness when you drop your doubly-enveloped, signed ballot into the mailbox in mid-October, having been bugged by your more expeditious housemates for taking too long to vote.
Or maybe my lack of excitement is due to disenfranchisement. We have been well and truly &*%$# by the Current Occupant, and by policies that date back to Reagan and earlier, and I don't believe that even Mr. Hope and Mr. Scrappy will be able to turn the ship around in four years. (Possibly in eight years, but it remains to be seen whether the Democrat hold on the White House and Congress -- assuming there is one, after today -- will last until 2012.) Let's hope I'm wrong. (And I'm not even thinking about what will happen if Mr. Vet and Mrs. Hockey Mom win.)
Even so, I am planning a festive Election Night dinner. I just don't have know yet what it will be. Chicago Deep-Dish Pizza and Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches? Vietnamese Stir-Fry with Baked Alaska for dessert? Hope Soup and Freedom Fries? Any suggestions?
1 comment:
No election theme on this coast.
We're having Winter Couscous, which is more terrific than it sounds- a vegetarian recipe from The Guardian with parsnips, carrots, winter squash, and lots of spices.
And, if you don't use all the oil called for, it's Core.
Post a Comment