Local elections may be the only thing that will save our democracy because the shortest path to contributing starts at home. National, regional, and state offices seem institutionally, if not systemically troubling. Ruling parties dole out partisan bubble voting areas and drive the wedge between us deeper and deeper each and every year.
I'm thinking of the days in early 20th c. when telephone service was on literal party lines, where you could pick up the phone and listen in to a conversation on your shared line. Or back in the days of my grandparents, when you called Mabel the operator to place a call (think Lily Tomlin on Laugh-In speaking with Mr. Veedal, as in Gore Vidal). Mabel knew everything about everybody's business and was prone to telling the caller that any so-in-so was at presently out shopping and to try again later. Close connections, yet prone to eavesdropping, distortions in sharing the gossip, spreading rumors with no basis in fact...if only to alleviate boredom. On the other hand, such gossip might veer in the direction of revenge, spreading lies because you could and not even Mabel would be there to save the victim from malfeasance. So, it seems, here we are again. Party Line Redux. Spreading rumors and lies with no basis in fact, destroying campaigns and lives to serve political ends that all too often aren't worth a grain of salt, with Citizens United paying for it. Just sayin'...
I'm thinking of the days in early 20th c. when telephone service was on literal party lines, where you could pick up the phone and listen in to a conversation on your shared line. Or back in the days of my grandparents, when you called Mabel the operator to place a call (think Lily Tomlin on Laugh-In speaking with Mr. Veedal, as in Gore Vidal). Mabel knew everything about everybody's business and was prone to telling the caller that any so-in-so was at presently out shopping and to try again later. Close connections, yet prone to eavesdropping, distortions in sharing the gossip, spreading rumors with no basis in fact...if only to alleviate boredom. On the other hand, such gossip might veer in the direction of revenge, spreading lies because you could and not even Mabel would be there to save the victim from malfeasance. So, it seems, here we are again. Party Line Redux. Spreading rumors and lies with no basis in fact, destroying campaigns and lives to serve political ends that all too often aren't worth a grain of salt, with Citizens United paying for it. Just sayin'...