the public process
Apr. 14th, 2004 07:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ilanaramaYes, updating twice in one week. Don't die of shock, here.
So last night were our caucuses. Colorado eliminated its presidential primary since the last time I voted here (the legislature decided it was a waste of money, with which I must agree, considering that by this late in the political season (and isn't it sad that April is late?) the candidates have already been determined) so this was the first time Britt and I have ever participated in a caucus.
We weren't really sure what the point was, because Colorado has a state-level primary later in the year (I think August?) but we wanted to be involved, in part because we are both passionate about politics, particularly this year. Not just with respect to the presidential race (although Britt did some work for Dean before he dropped out) - one of our senators and our district congressman are both retiring, so we are very interested in getting those seats filled by Democrats for a change.
Including us, there were twelve people at our precinct caucus, plus two students who were observing for their political science courses. Kind of depressing when I saw the list of eligible voters - we comprised maybe 5%! But if everyone had showed up, we wouldn't have all fit in the room, which in this case was a condo complex's clubhouse.
The first order of business was the senate race; again, I think this is going to go to a primary, so I'm not sure what the point was (and I should probably have asked!) Britt and I both support a recently declared candidate, our state Attorney General Ken Salazar (certain people on my flist are smiling at this, I am sure!). We were surprised that our group went 7:5 for Mike Miles (the one candidate who didn't drop out when Salazar announced - he has no government experience but a really interesting background). Our precinct has 8 delegates, so the Salazar supporters had to pick 3 delegates (and 3 alternates), and the Miles supporters had to pick 5 and 5, for the county convention which is May 8. Observant people will notice that 3 delegates + 3 alternates = 6 people = one more than were actually present. And one of the Salazar people can't make that date. So we ended up having to phone people we knew from the registrar's list to ask them if they'd be willing to be alternates! (Britt and I are both delegates. Woo!)
Then we did the presidential race. We had some discussion first - Britt pointed out that being committed to a candidate doesn't mean that you have to vote for that candidate at the county convention, and said that he would like to stand up for Dean as a symbolic show of appreciation even though he would in reality cast his vote for Kerry, and a few people nodded and agreed with that position. Then I gave the opinion that it was more important to show solidarity in support of Kerry, and a few people agreed with me. (You can see that we have healthy debate within our marriage!) When we actually voted it worked out that of our precinct's 8 delegates, 6 would be Kerry's, 1 Dean's, and 1 Kucinich's.
After that we elected a precinct committee chairman. Britt, silly man, volunteered. He's really gotten into politics lately, is all I can say.
After that we went on to resolutions. These are things that we are asking the Democratic Party to include in the platform - largely symbolic, of course. Most of these were distributed in advance from various organizations that submit the same things to all precincts statewide, but people could submit their own if they wanted (one guy had two resolutions from the Sierra Club, for example). For each, the text was read, we discussed it, then voted - each vote was recorded with numbers on for/against/abstain.
These were things like, "Whereas blah blah about how we all spend too much money on health care, be it resolved that the Democratic Party support legislation to create a single-payer health care system" (which passed our group). Not everything passed, and there was some enthusiastic debate.
And then we all went home.
It was a great deal of fun, IMHO. The social aspect of meeting with neighbors who generally think as you do (and debating the small differences), and the participatory aspect, which gave me a feeling of real involvement far greater than that which comes from punching out chads, are Good Things. The biggest downside is the cynical feeling that one's participation is mostly symbolic, but if Colorado succeeds in moving its caucus earlier in the year, as is planned, this won't be an issue any more. There's also the fact that it's not a secret ballot - everyone knows what you think and who you support. On the other hand, that's sort of a positive, too, because it forces you to stand up (literally) for your issues.
Also we met some people who seem really nice and live nearby. And one of them recognized me from my newspaper column (my picture runs with the column) which as usual gave me a little egoboost.
Hmm, the swamp icon seems appropriate for a political post.
So last night were our caucuses. Colorado eliminated its presidential primary since the last time I voted here (the legislature decided it was a waste of money, with which I must agree, considering that by this late in the political season (and isn't it sad that April is late?) the candidates have already been determined) so this was the first time Britt and I have ever participated in a caucus.
We weren't really sure what the point was, because Colorado has a state-level primary later in the year (I think August?) but we wanted to be involved, in part because we are both passionate about politics, particularly this year. Not just with respect to the presidential race (although Britt did some work for Dean before he dropped out) - one of our senators and our district congressman are both retiring, so we are very interested in getting those seats filled by Democrats for a change.
Including us, there were twelve people at our precinct caucus, plus two students who were observing for their political science courses. Kind of depressing when I saw the list of eligible voters - we comprised maybe 5%! But if everyone had showed up, we wouldn't have all fit in the room, which in this case was a condo complex's clubhouse.
The first order of business was the senate race; again, I think this is going to go to a primary, so I'm not sure what the point was (and I should probably have asked!) Britt and I both support a recently declared candidate, our state Attorney General Ken Salazar (certain people on my flist are smiling at this, I am sure!). We were surprised that our group went 7:5 for Mike Miles (the one candidate who didn't drop out when Salazar announced - he has no government experience but a really interesting background). Our precinct has 8 delegates, so the Salazar supporters had to pick 3 delegates (and 3 alternates), and the Miles supporters had to pick 5 and 5, for the county convention which is May 8. Observant people will notice that 3 delegates + 3 alternates = 6 people = one more than were actually present. And one of the Salazar people can't make that date. So we ended up having to phone people we knew from the registrar's list to ask them if they'd be willing to be alternates! (Britt and I are both delegates. Woo!)
Then we did the presidential race. We had some discussion first - Britt pointed out that being committed to a candidate doesn't mean that you have to vote for that candidate at the county convention, and said that he would like to stand up for Dean as a symbolic show of appreciation even though he would in reality cast his vote for Kerry, and a few people nodded and agreed with that position. Then I gave the opinion that it was more important to show solidarity in support of Kerry, and a few people agreed with me. (You can see that we have healthy debate within our marriage!) When we actually voted it worked out that of our precinct's 8 delegates, 6 would be Kerry's, 1 Dean's, and 1 Kucinich's.
After that we elected a precinct committee chairman. Britt, silly man, volunteered. He's really gotten into politics lately, is all I can say.
After that we went on to resolutions. These are things that we are asking the Democratic Party to include in the platform - largely symbolic, of course. Most of these were distributed in advance from various organizations that submit the same things to all precincts statewide, but people could submit their own if they wanted (one guy had two resolutions from the Sierra Club, for example). For each, the text was read, we discussed it, then voted - each vote was recorded with numbers on for/against/abstain.
These were things like, "Whereas blah blah about how we all spend too much money on health care, be it resolved that the Democratic Party support legislation to create a single-payer health care system" (which passed our group). Not everything passed, and there was some enthusiastic debate.
And then we all went home.
It was a great deal of fun, IMHO. The social aspect of meeting with neighbors who generally think as you do (and debating the small differences), and the participatory aspect, which gave me a feeling of real involvement far greater than that which comes from punching out chads, are Good Things. The biggest downside is the cynical feeling that one's participation is mostly symbolic, but if Colorado succeeds in moving its caucus earlier in the year, as is planned, this won't be an issue any more. There's also the fact that it's not a secret ballot - everyone knows what you think and who you support. On the other hand, that's sort of a positive, too, because it forces you to stand up (literally) for your issues.
Also we met some people who seem really nice and live nearby. And one of them recognized me from my newspaper column (my picture runs with the column) which as usual gave me a little egoboost.
Hmm, the swamp icon seems appropriate for a political post.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-15 01:35 pm (UTC)Chuckling, even : )
(Britt and I are both delegates. Woo!)
I'll ask in attempt to comprehend American election system: delegates for voting in primaries? Oh hell, it's so hard to understand, we have nothing of the kind, all our elections are direct (if it's the term, I'm not sure, I mean we all go and vote.)
The biggest downside is the cynical feeling that one's participation is mostly symbolic, but if Colorado succeeds in moving its caucus earlier in the year, as is planned, this won't be an issue any more. There's also the fact that it's not a secret ballot - everyone knows what you think and who you support. On the other hand, that's sort of a positive, too, because it forces you to stand up (literally) for your issues.
I think this symbolic meaning is really good because first of all you do it for yourself, and the more stable you are in your views (btw, it doesn't mean that they must never change, I mean that they must be well thought out, and such meetings help in this a lot) the better for your country because it consists of persons, 1+1+1....+1, right? And the more considerate they are the better. This said by the person who influences with her views (toghether with her co-workers) the audience of 20-30 thousands readers daily. Well, responsibility presses me, and speaking of political issues, I try to be more sympathetic and balanced than I am in other things.
PS: the swamp icon is just plain beautiful.