the inevitable fall of global capitalism

[melannen]

1. I had my election judge training! Hurrah. It was actually kind of hilarious because apparently the Board of Elections and the State Legislature are having a nonpartisan politicians-vs-bureaucrats feud and all of the BoE employees who were running the training were INCREDIBLY BITTER and NOT EVEN TRYING TO HIDE IT. Our main trainer was literally like "Let me show you the system we SHOULD be using this year and how great and smooth and foolproof and tamperproof it is, and by the way the legislature authorized us to spend millions of dollars on it before they decided they hated, look, isn't it great? So great. Now let me show you the horrible system we had to kludge together because the legislature SUDDENLY DECIDED they hated that one for NO GOOD REASON, can you think of any good reason? I can't. Back me up on this."

That's a minor paraphrase but basically accurate, including tone.

So that was entertaining.

2. All of the Republican candidates for President are unthinkably horrible and both of the Democratic ones are pretty OK rn so to be honest I really am mostly tuning out the election, but here are some links that have turned up on my reading list that are a pretty good summary of my feelings on Bernie vs. Hillary:

old post, you have probably seen: hth on what people mean when they say Bernie can't get things done
newer post, nicki on why people say Hillary is 'unlikable'

3. I have some RL friends who are very, very, very invested in Bernie winning. In that way where they have made themselves believe that if Bernie wins, all their problems will be solved and their lives will suddenly be good again. And I am watching them slowly fall into that pit of denial + despair where Bernie HAS to win okay because he's going to win because.

Anyway, I just want to say: Stop worrying. Bernie has already won.

Seriously. People have linked me several times in the last few days to several (clearly biased) Bernie vs. Hillary comparison charts, but what they all summarize to is:

Bernie is right about everything (except possibly gun control)
Hillary used to be wrong about everything, but now that she's running against Bernie, her positions are suddenly a lot like his, SUSPICIOUS.

Bernie got into the race not expecting to win: he got into the race hoping to push the Democratic center further to the left. And he has done that. He has done that in spades. Even if Hillary moves back toward the right in the general election, she'll still be taking much, much more lefty positions on a lot of things than she did a year ago, and than I imagined any Democratic establishment candidate would take this year. That was Bernie's entire goal. He has achieved it. Everything from here on in is just gravy.

Bernie already achieved his win condition, and I suspect he knows it.

4. RE: hth's post, what really matters more than the presidential primary at this point is who wins the downticket races: Congress and the local elections. If you're invested in the presidential stuff, please, please, look around you at your local races, find a candidate for Congress or County Council or Judge who is doing stuff you like, and throw some money and time their way instead. It really does make all the difference. In fact, given how much Congress has managed to lock up the national executive lately, it probably makes more difference.

...that said I haven't looked at any of my downticket races very closely because I'm not even sure what's going to be on the ballot because did I mention that the politicians are feuding with the Board of Elections? Seriously it's beautiful.

(Also I live in one of the skinny parts of the dead pterodactyl so my local votes on a lot of races are pretty pointless anyway. Another reason your state legislature vote matters! fucking gerrymandering.)

5. So I posted a thing on tumblr t'other day about Steve Rogers' personal political context, people seem to be liking it?

Comments

[the_rck]

I've been sick, and it's a 15-20 walk to my polling place, so I was thinking of sitting the primary out. I'm pretty much going to vote for whoever the Democrats nominate, and I don't have strong feelings about who that should be.

Sadly, somebody put a millage renewal (emergency services communications infrastructure) on the county ballot, so I pretty much have to go vote. This isn't like last November (while I was doing radiation) when the only thing on the ballot was someone running unopposed for city council. That I could, in good conscience, skip.

Millages matter, dammit. And I guess I can see why they did it-- Millages around here are much more likely to pass when they come up without a lot of other stuff on the ballot.

[melannen]

It always make me so sad when people talk about how difficult it is for them, logistically, to vote; because there's usually at least something on the ballot that's worth voting on (and even if you have no opinion, just turnout can be important.) Making it physically easier to vote is something we as a country really need to work on.

(IDK if it's worth it to you, but you might be able to contact your local Democratic organization and see if they can provide rides for voters - I know I was a driver for that one year before I started working the election.)

[the_rck]

It's particularly sad that Cordelia's school, which is a three minute walk away, is also a polling place. It's just that we don't vote there. Nobody on our side of the street does.

Our actual polling place is also bad because there isn't room inside for people waiting to vote if the line is more than about ten people. I'm actually debating voting absentee, come November, but I'm hung up on the question of whether I really can't physically handle voting. Michigan law only allows absentee voting if one absolutely can't do it any other way, but I'm agoraphobic and asthmatic to cold air and have trouble standing for long periods of time. Oh, and there's very, very little legal parking near the polling place because it's the clubhouse of a subsidized housing condo complex.

A friend offered to take me to vote, but, given that Scott went in to work at 3 a.m., he should be getting home within the next hour because they're not legally supposed to make him work more than twelve hours out of twenty four. They do because there's mandatory clean up time after shift, but they're not supposed to. That'll get him home by 4:30. I prefer to vote earlier in the day, before noon if I can, but I think this will be okay.

[birke]

It seems to me that "absolutely can't do it any other way" can be interpreted as "can't absolutely guarantee that voting could happen another way, as it would depend on health and environmental conditions."

[the_rck]

It's also that, if I go there to vote in the Presidential election, that will be all that I'm able to do that day. Even if everything's perfect, I probably can't do that and, say, cook dinner.

I really wish that Michigan were one of the states that allows absentee voting without a person needing to justify it.

[melannen]

It always makes me so angry when polling places can't understand simple things like "not everybody can stand in a line in the weather for long periods of time".

I mean, Maryland I guess is better than a lot of places, but I still have to fight with the chief judges every year just to get them to put some chairs in the waiting area. THAT SHOULD NOT BE THAT HARD.

Good luck! It seems like agoraphobic and can't stand out in cold air would be good enough reasons, but anytime they ask people to prove they're disabled enough, it's a huge hassle even when it shouldn't be. :/