Democracy At Work...Sort Of

Election day has come and gone and, as usual, most voters are not happy. Let's face it.  Democracy and happiness are mutually exclusive concepts when the votes are counted. We wonder why all those other voters are so stupid in that they seem to vote for the wrong candidate or issue every election. Hmmm Maybe one day the voters will wise up and vote as I do.....ensuring the best possible result. Uh, I guess you can see by that comment that election day also makes voters hallucinate. I certainly am doing that.

I thought I would mention some things about the voting patterns this past election here in my state of Oregon. In this last election, both here and in every other every state in the U.S., the election results that proved the truth of what Winston Churchill once said, "Democracy is the worst system devised by the wit of man ...except all the others".  Churchill wasn't kidding. The other non democratic systems are even worse, though those who live under democracy often find that hard to believe until election returns come in. But at least in a democracy we get what we deserve, since we choose the winners and losers and merit the suffering those idiots we elect inflict on us.

Everyone and every persuasion gets or doesn't get something in a democratic election system. Here in Oregon those liberal voters who love a big government that gives them "free stuff' won the day with the weird liberal Portland politicians winning again.  The legalization of marijuana passed as well as a strange "women's rights amendment"....even though women are given the same rights as men in the Oregon constitution. The liberal bubble nesds "symbolic amendments" as well as those that are truly needed
Yet the conservative crowd got some victories when propositions to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and to require special labeling for so called genetically altered food ( 80% of all food is gaf) both failed.

How inclusive is a democratic election? Well, here in Oregon in recnet elections a transgendered mayor, Stu Rassmussen, of Silverton, Oregon won re-election for the fifth straight time. I guess Stu's win proves that transgendered politicians don't really change their minds, positions or sex as often as other politicians do. We should start a Transgendered arty here in Oregon. The slogan for campaigns could be, "We only change our minds once."

And two years ago, the strangest case here in Oregon shows why democratic elections really includes everyone....even when the elected party doesn't want to be included.... is that of Lillian Slater. Lillian is 95 years old and has been a member of the elected town council (the legislative branch of the town government) of Bonanza, Oregon for 27 years.

But Lillian and her husband said that Lillian has had enough of politics and wants to retire. She ran unopposed to the town council position, and she was reelected despite not even voting for herself. Lillian got 92% of the vote but swears she doesn't want the job. After the win she announced, "It's not that I don't like serving on the council, I just think some other folks should be on it". But Lillian hopes those crazy voters will let her retire before she hits 100. Now how crazy is that kind of democracy?