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November 8, 2006

Provisional Balloting - "Democracy," Warts and All

I was forced to cast a provisional ballot today because the old ladies that run my precinct did not have my name on the voter rolls. Basically, this means my vote wont count. Nevermind that LA County sent me a sample ballot and information on where to vote. Apparently, I didn't prove my residency. Nevermind that I simply returned home - to the exact address that I last lived at before moving away from Cali. Nope. I think the problem is that I didn't write a Cali driver's license down when I registered. See, I just moved back in September and well, I haven't gotten that yet. It's aggravating to be silenced by the system.

Even more aggravating, my fellow Californians are idiots. They overwhelmingly re-elected the misogynist in chief as governor. They passed an initiative to put GPS monitoring on all sex offendors even though its net result will be to make the public less safe (more offendors will simply drop off the roles, more cops will spend their time on duty watching computer monitors instead of policing the streets, more money will be wasted on a Republican vote getter that gets nothing for our safety). The proposition to make Cali like every other state in the union and force Big Oil to PAY FOR THEIR USE OF OUR PUBLICLY-OWNED OIL FAILED. The morons in chief on this one were Hollywood Money. I'm so disgusted with the system. But really, who can I blame? Yes, Hollywood and Big Corporations have the real power in California politics. But where are my sisters and brothers? Why do my fellow citizens not bother to vote? Why don't they lobby their representatives? Why don't we have a voice int he democratic process? Why does one racist fall (George Allen in Virginia), while another racist wins (the guy in Tennessee whose supporters sent out racist propaganda attacking Ford, the first black man to have a chance at a Southern Senate seat since Reconstruction)? How does the establishment Democratic candidate lose so swiftly after National Dems forced out the progressive Democrat (Duckworth, Illinois)?

I'm tired, bitter, and angry. Tomorrow is another day, and I'll use it to create the world I want to see rather than picking apart this horse race. Are you sick and tired of the way the world is turning? Then Join WILPF. Together, we're going to create the nonviolent revolution in domestic and foreign policy that this country so desperately needs.

I'll leave you with my comments on the LA Times blog -

The lesson of Prop 87 is that Californians are really, truly addicted to oil. They're afraid they will have to pay this tax at the pump. No sound bite from President Clinton on t.v. or any of the other wasted millions on this proposition could convince them otherwise. In some ways, this proves that democracy can't be created by the upper class - that Californians don't walk lock step behind Hollywood money. Then again, people do seem to be enamored by a celebrity governor regardless of his record or his muddied past.

In the end, the results of this particular election don't matter. There's a cancer on our democracy - people are so alienated by the system that they don't even bother to do their civic duty and vote. And even less people pay attention and get involved in the political process beyond voting. We must figure out a way to get back control of the political process from Hollywood moguls, large corporations, and the sycophant politicians. Here's hoping we build a grassroots democracy in the coming decade.

Posted by cj at November 8, 2006 12:00 AM

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