Yesterday was a “down day” at daisyfae’s dream condo. Home theater/audio installation day*. The Boy and one of his friends were sleeping in, after being up late the night before playing billiards and drinking cheap beer…
With the installation noise, The Boy was up earlier than expected. Sitting with me at the table, he mentioned that he might want to vote absentee. Asking me about issues and candidates, we went through a League of Women Voters summary of the five state-level constitutional amendment issues on the ballot.
The Boy: Issue 1 is stupid. Who cares how many days there should be for filing petitions. i’m not voting on that… Issue 2 is about green space? Parks? Acquiring green space? Does that mean they’ll exercise eminent domain over homeowners and take property? Fuck that!
daisyfae: No, it’s about issuing bonds to raise funds to purchase land. Very different.
The Boy: OK. Issue 3 is about the rights of people who are living on the shoreline? Isn’t that the issue Dad was involved in?
daisyfae: Yep. Another “property owners rights” issue. Allows people who live on the shoreline to have access to the water without paying taxes to the state. Seems reasonable to me since they pay a premium to buy the land.
The Boy: Where the fuck is Issue 4? Why does it go right to Issue 5?
daisyfae: i have no idea… What’s issue 5?
The Boy: Payday lenders? Those fuckers can charge more than 28%? That’s robbery! Shut ’em down… bastards.
daisyfae: Another case where people who are desperate aren’t always doing the math… May be good to have legislation regulating interest rates.
The Boy: Issue 6 is the casino thing? Hell yeah! I don’t care who’s backing the damn casino. How am i ever going to get a job as a poker dealer if we don’t have casinos in the state?
And so it went… We talked about candidates, issues, and taxes, too…
The Boy: Is there a police levy?
daisyfae: Nope. Just schools and mental health…
The Boy: Fuck the po-lice. i’m looking forward to voting against police levies. i’ll vote for schools, fire levies and anything else, but fuck the po-lice.
Off to a halloween party...
The Boy woke up his friend, and they reviewed issues and candidates. They went to vote. i’ve seen so much energy from the “young ‘uns” regarding this election. They are – across the board – engaged, and paying attention. As my friend ctyri writes “I can’t express how great it feels to be witnessing a new direction for our country”. And he and i are both hard core cynics… It’s their country. They need to take charge. i’ll cheer wildly from the sidelines. There’s a future… fingers crossed…
Last night, as friends and i drank our way through my liquor cabinet celebrated the new home theater/audio system, The Boy headed out for a halloween party as The Dude, from The Big Lebowski**. And despite the bathrobe, shades and dirty t-shirt? i was kinda proud…
* And the Geek Gods sang “Ahhhhhhhh!”. And daisyfae was in a state of perpetual electronica delirium as she tested each sound zone, humped the new HDTV/Blueray system and flitted about like a school girl in heat…
** renal failure offers brilliance for halloween costume cool-if-ication. Zombie up, bitches… My suggestion was to go as The Zombie Dude…
Trailer Park Refugee 