…well, actually, word from the bar is that Hartford voters are going to be flipping a coin when it comes to filling in the bubble sheets on Tuesday. Given this new method of voting, I think that the smart candidate is the one who opts to be on line C, since we all know that C is the best answer on multiple choice tests, and really, is voting nothing more than one big test– test of our patience, courage, faith, and nerves?
What I am hearing is that people are not happy with Perez. He’s under investigation, and for what it’s worth, is a little to stubborn for the liking of many. On the other hand, we have Milner, who is popular, but ran a half-assed campaign (sorry dude, but that’s what it was); there’s Minnie, who has been ultra-negative toward the incumbent. That’d be fine, but other than the YMCA thing, she really has not expressed much of what she’d like to do to fix things up. Some staunch lefties have reservations about J. Stan McCauley, which I think is basically them writing him off for no reason beyond his status as a Republican. Then we have I. Charles Mathews, the candidate who seems like the mayor’s biggest threat. And yet, for many, it’s hard to swallow voting for someone who worked in the corporate world and is hardly progressive.
So, it sounds like for some, the answer to the problem is to not vote, or go with “the lesser of evils” among what they perceive to be the most electable candidate.
The refusal to vote one’s conscience is part of why we seem to always end up with such lousy politicians.
Rasputina’s song “The Mayor” captures a lot of the character problems that exist in so many of the people holding various political offices in the U.S.:
Ooh, it’s scrambled eggs what he says
He accuses me of treachery
Got the nine lies, got the wide eyes,
got a failing grade in chemistryIf you count back to the balcony
when all we saw was a mystery
of a blonde-haired boy brought his mother joy
with his pedigree and family treeOh, lay it all out on a wicker couch
that you wove in a loony bin
Cut it out, it’s a second-round bout
not the way of a gentlemanAh, give it up, get a job,
take a pill and leave me be
He’s got a synapse lapse he don’t think he has
but it’s been proven empirically“If they take something precious from me,
I’m gonna take something precious from them.”
Oh now he’s losing his constituency,
we thought “Oh, this could never happen again.”If I take something precious from him,
he try to take something precious from me
There’s a battle in his head that he cannot win
There’s a man that he could never beOh no
Way to go
He’s the mayorOh, I’m quite tired of this lunatic
Why must we suffer ‘cuz the mayor’s sick?
He say: “All abandon from this sinking ship.”
and he’s off on another tripNo, he don’t care about environment
He has made this a shitty place
My interest rate shrinks at a rapid pace
compounded daily on my worried face“If they take something precious from me,
I’m gonna take something precious from them.”
Oh now he’s losing his constituency,
we thought “Oh, this could never happen again.”If I take something precious from him,
he try to take something precious from me
There’s a battle in his head that he cannot win
There’s a man that he could never be“If they take something precious from me,
I’m gonna take something precious from them.”
Oh now he’s losing his constituency,
we thought “Oh, this could never happen again.”
(You’re gonna hang your head and cry)If I take something precious from him,
he try to take something precious from me
There’s a battle in his head that he cannot win
There’s a man that he could never be
(go ahead, go ahead and cry)You’re gonna hang your head and cry
By the way, the more glossy postcards I receive from a candidate, the less likely I am to vote for him/her. Stop with the environmental destruction already!