In Thailand they have a color of the day. The color for Tuesday is Orange. It is the day of Hanuman, devotee of Rama, who helped Rama battle the evil Ravana. Tuesday is perhaps not an auspicious day to have a primary election because Orange is not a primary color. Sunday, Thursday, and Friday (yellow, yellow, and red, respectively) would be better. Maybe we would get more turnout on a yellow, yellow, or red day. Perhaps our expectations would also be lowered such that we would not believe our political leaders to be incarnations of Hanuman.
Such was our hope for a Democratic party Representative from the 11th Congressional District here in Western North Carolina. See, back in the day we had a corrupt banker / stroke victim for a congressman. That was cool because we are open and accepting people here in the Land of the Suwaree, and showing our support for a half dead Republican seemed like the liberal thing to do. We thought we had one in ’04 but turns out she wanted to show pornos to kids. Or she supported teaching contraception in public schools. I get confused about how that works. Instead, our current congressman ran through the T in ’06 so that he could get back to Washington without being threatened by outside linebackers.
What he does seem to be threatened by, however, is any real association with his national party leadership or their platform. That’s not to say that his vote against the stimulus package was not a principled stand against mounting deficits or that his vote against the healthcare bill was not a principled stand against perceived incursions by the government into the lives of private citizens. All I am saying is that his principles seem more aligned with the party in opposition to the one with which he is afilliated. That’s all.
So that leaves us with the she-who-shows-porn-to-kids / educates-them-about-reproductive-health taking on whatsis in for a seat in the State House (which she will win, btw, because her supporters are motivated and direct mail ain’t gonna doit in a mid-term primary for state representative.) It also leaves us wishing she had mounted such a vibrant primary challenge to the quaterback. Not that any of this is life and death. The things that need to get done are going to get done before the general election anyway. It’s an economic and political necessity. What will remain is the opportunity to accomplish those things we have not even dreamed of yet.