Stop Me Before I Vote Again

... whence all around had fled.

There's been a sharp drop-off in the number of group emails and Facebook posts, among my acquaintance, about the upcoming Most Important Election In The History Of The Cosmos Since The Last Most Important Election In The History Of The Cosmos (lather, rinse, repeat). Even the true believers seem to have caught the prevailing malaise -- and not a minute too soon. Great thing, malaise. Need more of it.

There are a few exceptions, though -- a few boys and girls on the burning deck, who will certainly go down with the ship, bless their stubborn hearts. Here's one such -- let's call her Aristeia:

There's no alternative to giving the Dems a chance at a second, it is hoped more positive and successful term, rather than delivering the country directly into the hands of the Republicans. The lesser of two evils is a concept without which daily life in the real world would be untenable.

There's no alternative? Of course there is. There are several. Among them is the alternative of deciding that the electoral game is simply not worth the candle; that whatever marginal and completely hypothetical benefit might be derived from an Obie II simply isn't -- in purely personal terms -- worth the expense of spirit in a waste of shame that one incurs by apologizing or voting for this murderous monster.

More positive and successful? Are they the same thing? Obie has been quite successful in imposing austerity and building up the police state -- not to mention the unspeakable horror of education "reform", and on and on: the list is endless. These are real successes, but are they positive? If one expects something "positive" from Obie II, must one not rather hope for failure?

(The only 'positive' thing in his first term was defeat in Iraq. Go Iran!)

Delivering the country into the hands of the Republicans? I would have said the country already is in the hands of the Republicans, and Aristeia apparently thinks so too, since she tells me elsewhere that all the bad stuff that happened under Obie I was forced on him by... guess who. From the point of view of the boy on the deck, is it not a question of arguing about the figurehead while neglecting the fires?

The lesser evil as indispensable concept. It certainly is indispensable to the carney-barkers who keep the electoral circus running. Suppose they gave an election and nobody came?

At this point somebody will consult a cue card and mention gay marriage. Probably this issue doesn't loom as large in my personal landscape as it should. I've never proposed to a guy without being turned down flat, which has probably soured me on the whole topic. Indeed the entire marriage racket, gay or dour, is beginning to seem rather uncalled-for. Let cohabitation thrive, of course, but let's keep Bumble the Beadle out of it. Boycott elections! Boycott marriage!