Whew, I just sealed my absentee ballot.
So glad to be officially tuned out from the annoying noise elections have become. Over eighteen months, billions of dollars have been spent trying to sway our minds. Not a single selection on my ballot was changed by the mountains of mailers, annoying robocalls, or the increasingly obnoxious TV ads that were targeted at us.
As always, I vote against every ballot initiative. Not sure why we have a representative form of government or why we go through the hassle of elections if issues end up being nothing more than a popularity contest subject to simple majority. Ballot initiatives are a bail out, most often born of frustration, but a cop out nonetheless.
The rest of my ballot looks rather eclectic, especially since it is carries the first write-in vote of my adult life. The Ying-Yang I see in other selections reflects my wish for balance of power; something that seems to be my norm for the last two decades.
My greatest hope of what can come of the banter and rabid energy so many have invested trying to sway my mind, or the minds of others, is this - That even a small portion of the energy individual citizens invested during this election cycle will be invested in the citizen-based form of self-government this country was founded on. Governance and policy making doesn't end when the election is over. Actually, it starts once the election is over. That is when our energy and effort can actually make a difference. That is when our advocacy for our issues will bear fruit.
I get the idea of wanting a victory by the person or party in which one has invested a lot of energy; we want to be on the winning team; we want the validation that our position is most widely supported. I understand that people are busy when it comes time to get involved in the true governing of their country/state/county/city. I understand the frustration that comes with engaging in policy and process.
Maybe it is human nature to hope that if you invest enough energy in the election process, you won't have to spend time and effort on policy and governance after the election. If that is part of human nature it is a serious flaw in our thinking, replete with historical examples to the contrary of how our government works at all levels. And a flaw that the power brokers and monied insiders hope continues.
Maybe I'm getting too old. Maybe I am now officially a curmudgeon. Or maybe it is just have lived through enough elections that I shake my head to see the level of passion, bordering on irrational emotion, people express during elections, yet how disengaged they are during the other three and a half years in between elections. Here on Hunt Talk, in emails, conversations, and mostly on Facebook, I have noticed a lot of people who are really wound up about election outcomes, yet when you ask them to write a letter, make a phone call, send an email, or attend a meeting, they provide the normal reply of being too busy, not interested, or the catch all of "they never listen to us anyhow."
Quite frankly, we who share a passion for hunting, fishing, and conservation are getting our collective asses kicked. And it's not because "they don't listen to us." It's because we don't show up when it's game time. It's because the majority of us only get involved for a few months out of every four years. It's because we seem to think that self-governance starts when the election season fires up and somehow ends when you pull the lever in the polling booth. It's because we as a community seem more inclined to bitch about outcomes we refuse to participate in than we are inclined to participate in processes that will affect outcomes with regards to the things we love.
I am thankful I will be on a high Colorado mesa looking for an elk on the morning of November 9th, rather than reading the volumes of doomsday prognostications that will be posted on Al Gore's world wide web by the side(s) who feel the world will now end based on election results. Following the 2012 election I made a comment on my FB page about the whining that was going on. I commented that if we have structured our lives such that an election will make or break our future, then maybe we should re-examine how we have structured our life. Man, did I get lit up over that post. I feel even stronger about that comment now than when I posted it four years ago.
I hope that the few months between the election and the new Congress and state legislatures gives all of us enough time to take a deep breath and refocus on what is most important in our lives. We know that once those governing bodies get back in session, no matter who is in control, our issues will be under attack in some manner, by some party/politician/ideology, funded by some outside interest who views us as obstructionists. It will be a chance to engage and improve some aspects of the great things we enjoy in this country. When that time comes, I hope even a slight percentage of the energy that was invested in promoting candidates/parties will be redirected to our issues.
Until then, I'm going hunting. No matter your frustration level with our political process, please cast your vote. No matter who you vote for, many have died and sacrificed for our right to vote, making it too valuable to take for granted. No matter the election outcome, life will go on. So long as we commit to representing our interests, we will have a voice in outcomes. Whether we engage or don't engage, we get the outcome we have earned.
Happy hunting.
Happy voting.
So glad to be officially tuned out from the annoying noise elections have become. Over eighteen months, billions of dollars have been spent trying to sway our minds. Not a single selection on my ballot was changed by the mountains of mailers, annoying robocalls, or the increasingly obnoxious TV ads that were targeted at us.
As always, I vote against every ballot initiative. Not sure why we have a representative form of government or why we go through the hassle of elections if issues end up being nothing more than a popularity contest subject to simple majority. Ballot initiatives are a bail out, most often born of frustration, but a cop out nonetheless.
The rest of my ballot looks rather eclectic, especially since it is carries the first write-in vote of my adult life. The Ying-Yang I see in other selections reflects my wish for balance of power; something that seems to be my norm for the last two decades.
My greatest hope of what can come of the banter and rabid energy so many have invested trying to sway my mind, or the minds of others, is this - That even a small portion of the energy individual citizens invested during this election cycle will be invested in the citizen-based form of self-government this country was founded on. Governance and policy making doesn't end when the election is over. Actually, it starts once the election is over. That is when our energy and effort can actually make a difference. That is when our advocacy for our issues will bear fruit.
I get the idea of wanting a victory by the person or party in which one has invested a lot of energy; we want to be on the winning team; we want the validation that our position is most widely supported. I understand that people are busy when it comes time to get involved in the true governing of their country/state/county/city. I understand the frustration that comes with engaging in policy and process.
Maybe it is human nature to hope that if you invest enough energy in the election process, you won't have to spend time and effort on policy and governance after the election. If that is part of human nature it is a serious flaw in our thinking, replete with historical examples to the contrary of how our government works at all levels. And a flaw that the power brokers and monied insiders hope continues.
Maybe I'm getting too old. Maybe I am now officially a curmudgeon. Or maybe it is just have lived through enough elections that I shake my head to see the level of passion, bordering on irrational emotion, people express during elections, yet how disengaged they are during the other three and a half years in between elections. Here on Hunt Talk, in emails, conversations, and mostly on Facebook, I have noticed a lot of people who are really wound up about election outcomes, yet when you ask them to write a letter, make a phone call, send an email, or attend a meeting, they provide the normal reply of being too busy, not interested, or the catch all of "they never listen to us anyhow."
Quite frankly, we who share a passion for hunting, fishing, and conservation are getting our collective asses kicked. And it's not because "they don't listen to us." It's because we don't show up when it's game time. It's because the majority of us only get involved for a few months out of every four years. It's because we seem to think that self-governance starts when the election season fires up and somehow ends when you pull the lever in the polling booth. It's because we as a community seem more inclined to bitch about outcomes we refuse to participate in than we are inclined to participate in processes that will affect outcomes with regards to the things we love.
I am thankful I will be on a high Colorado mesa looking for an elk on the morning of November 9th, rather than reading the volumes of doomsday prognostications that will be posted on Al Gore's world wide web by the side(s) who feel the world will now end based on election results. Following the 2012 election I made a comment on my FB page about the whining that was going on. I commented that if we have structured our lives such that an election will make or break our future, then maybe we should re-examine how we have structured our life. Man, did I get lit up over that post. I feel even stronger about that comment now than when I posted it four years ago.
I hope that the few months between the election and the new Congress and state legislatures gives all of us enough time to take a deep breath and refocus on what is most important in our lives. We know that once those governing bodies get back in session, no matter who is in control, our issues will be under attack in some manner, by some party/politician/ideology, funded by some outside interest who views us as obstructionists. It will be a chance to engage and improve some aspects of the great things we enjoy in this country. When that time comes, I hope even a slight percentage of the energy that was invested in promoting candidates/parties will be redirected to our issues.
Until then, I'm going hunting. No matter your frustration level with our political process, please cast your vote. No matter who you vote for, many have died and sacrificed for our right to vote, making it too valuable to take for granted. No matter the election outcome, life will go on. So long as we commit to representing our interests, we will have a voice in outcomes. Whether we engage or don't engage, we get the outcome we have earned.
Happy hunting.
Happy voting.
