I've come to the realization that when it comes to politics, you can’t depend on anyone.
You’d think I’d have learned this by now but I’m a slow learner.
I’m thinking specifically about people whom I assumed leaned at least slightly left – one runs a progressive website, for Pete’s sake – but who regularly use Facebook and Twitter to direct so much snark, sarcasm and snide remarks toward liberals that the only label they deserve is “bitch.” (I’m not being sexist – one of them’s a dude.)
Regardless of the fact that this was a b*llsh*t reason to disqualify the signatures – most previous challenges based on type size and formatting have failed as long as the substance of the petitions and the number of valid signatures were clear – the thing that gets me is that people I thought I knew felt it necessary to ridicule the petition circulators for neglecting to do their homework and giving the Board of Canvassers a reason to send them packing. One even tried to make the case that as long as we have hungry kids digging in dumpsters for food in this state, we ought not to concern ourselves with less important issues like, you know, assaults on representative democracy and stuff.
I tried to make the case that there was no need to be derisive – that the signature collectors were fighting the good fight and deserved respect for their efforts even though they didn’t cross all their t’s and dot all their i’s (after all, they did collect 203,238 signatures, 40,000 more than the number needed to place the question on the November ballot) – and we’re allowed to care about more than one issue at a time but it was like trying to communicate with my ex-wives: they were so busy distracting and condescending and ignoring my points that our conversation went nowhere.So not only did I learn that this important challenge to our emergency manager law is probably heading to the state Court of Appeals instead of the November ballot, but I also realized that just because people are thought to be progressive or insist they’re unbiased doesn’t mean they are. They might be more invested in composing clever Facebook posts and arguing than in working to improve government or at least supporting those who do.
We really do learn something new every day, don’t we?
Source: Huffington Post.
It's not as if one can tell from just looking what size type is being used in a petition, but more importantly, people who know these things because they advise people doing these things, know that the little details do make a difference. Sometimes it is easy to get lost in some important fight and forget to bring the bullets to the melee.
ReplyDeleteThe point is that there are no defeats and no victories, only effort. But perhaps you will be cheered when the Court of Appeals makes a ruling that the next batch of malcontents comes along whose efforts you oppose gets their idea on the ballot and then passed. Slogans may be out of favor, but "If at first you don't succeed, try try again." seems appropriate here. Or just don't vote for the bastards the next time, which also works. Progressives either stayed home or bought into Snyder and his ilk or we would be moaning about the corruption of the Democratic administration again about now.
Keep the faith, Bro.
JFMertz