I was bored by the ballot.
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I woke up yesterday earlier than usual, beat my high score on Tetris Blitz by playing the same challenge twenty-five times and performed one of the greatest civic duties known to mankind: I voted.
I’m sad to say this, but I was more excited by the new “powerups” and fake money that my high score unlocked than I was by the names that appeared on the ballot at my polling place.
For starters, I was never thrilled about Mr. Tom Wolf, the democratic candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania, because I perceive him to be as entertaining as a vibrator without batteries.
He seems well-intentioned, but I didn’t dig his image as the “Great White Hope” who will rescue the cash-strapped, sh*t-stained Philadelphia School District – which the public was mislead to believe was drained financially in four years by Mr. Tom Corbett – by lobbying to return it to a City who, in reality, doesn’t have the capacity to manage it or a 21st century vision to propel it to where it needs to be in order to produce tech-savvy, civic-minded, critical thinkers.
Secondly, the Republican candidate who was running against my Congressman I had never heard of, seen a flyer from or even met.
And finally, my State Senator and State Representative were running unopposed, which means the political talent pool is drying up. In my opinion, that’s a bad thing, because I believe competition makes everyone better and keep us all striving to be greater than the day before. I mean look at WWE: once they put ECW and WCW out of business things got a little stale because you don’t have to run as hard when no one is chasing you.
There’s another election coming up in May and I’m hoping that my ballot boredom will be cured by having a variety of new names and ideologies to choose from.
As an informed and engaged citizen, it’s not enough for me to just vote for voting sake. I need to know of and believe in those who want to represent me. And in return, I need them to know of and believe in me.
I was disappointed yesterday by my ballot choices, but I’m really looking forward to the future because everyday new voices and faces are rising up and speaking up. And these names will only be visible in the street for so long, as there are surely headed to a ballot near you.
Thanks for reading. Until next time, I’m Flood the Drummer® & I’m Drumming for JUSTICE!™
If your state rep and state senator are running unopposed, it’s probably because they are in gerrymandered safe seats, and no one in the other party wants to spend the time, effort and money to get beaten. You should approach the local leaders of the “out” party and offer to be the sacrificial lamb next election. If you’re serious about running, they may help you get your name on the ballot, even though they may not provide any actual support for your run.