[CrackMonkey] Lindsey Graham

[Seth David Schoen]

Bob Bernstein writes:

> Not voting is a purely private act, akin to refusing the instruction to
> "Repeat" while shampooing. No one cares.

If you thought there was something _wrong_ with Repeating, that's a good
enough reason not to Repeat.

I mean, maybe you have an allergy to the shampoo, or you're concerned about
whether the SLS in shampoo residues is carcinogenic, or you're an
environmentalist and you don't want to waste the shampoo.  So you're not
going to Repeat.

You may or may not start a campaign to get other people to refrain from
Repeating, but either way, your action wasn't meaningless.

Now, there are actual anti-voting campaigns.  Most of them are joined
together with some sort of political educational effort.  Those efforts
ask people to move _away_ from apathy but to show their concerns through
some medium other than electoral politics.  If you do _that_, it's no
longer a "private act".

> Voting, on the other hand, is a cool social event, at least in small New
> England towns. You get to hob-nob with the two-bit local pols, bust their
> chops over trash pickup, and maybe grab a free doughnut with neighbors you
> hope you don't rub elbows with for another whole damn year!

I think sugaring is cooler -- you get this great syrup afterward, no oaths
required (unless you drop a bucket on your toe).

> We are always already (to get a tad Heideggerian) at the ballpark. Who wants
> to just sit there, whine, and not watch the game?

Perhaps the exit door is open and a few people could be persuaded to run off
and, um, go sugaring.

-- 
Seth David Schoen <schoen at loyalty.org>  | And do not say, I will study when I
Temp.  http://www.loyalty.org/~schoen/  | have leisure; for perhaps you will
down:  http://www.loyalty.org/   (CAF)  | not have leisure.  -- Pirke Avot 2:5