Election Night, 2014

Josh Getzler

Next week I'll talk about Bouchercon's Men of Mystery fiasco. But tonight, it's all about one thing: Whatever your political leaning, wherever you stand on economic or social or foreign policy issues, if you are a citizen of the United States it is your right to express yourself. This is meaningful, and can't be taken for granted. There are people around the world DYING to have this right in their countries. Complacency in this area is unconscionable. 

 

What may emerge from this election is more gridlock, more partisan stonewalling, less concensus. It's a mess. But it's (largely--voter suppression efforts notwithstanding) our honest mess. And we need to live with it, and work toward our beautiful if nongrammatical more perfect union.

 

 

Comments

[Nikki Trionfo]

This year I volunteered in the campaign of my neighbor, who ran for county assessor. I never understood before how hard it is to communicate with "the populace," or how demanding people can be, or how uninformed. For example, my neighbor fielded questions at a meet and greet about whether he'd "weaponize" the assessor office. (Um, no.) Or how he would cut taxes. (Not remotely possible, since that's not the assessor's job.) He and his opponents dedicated hundreds of hours with no compensation and were gracious and patient. I appreciate my elected officials so much more and want to personally cut them some slack, esp. given my own unreasonable demands. (Why can't they just make a law that kids can't grow up? Gosh.)
Anyway, I'm off to what we reasonably hope is a celebration party for my neighbor. Go vote, you westerners with polls still open!