sleepwalk

what, me worry? hell, yeah! all i can do is vote, and vote i shall do. i have to ascend the mountain and enter the racket club. where verily the tiny parking lot will not be enough for the anticipated swarms of citizens doing their duty. and i gotta do some more homework on a couple of these propositions ... there's other government besides the federal? oh, right.

i have a new, election-eve obsession, courtesy of copy boy. curse him. it's fun and fascinating. (and, of course, encouraging -- which makes me both optimistic and suspicious.) check out the current electoral vote predictor 2004.

the mood at CBHQ is mostly cautious optimism. mr. news thinks bush is gonna win. this gives me pause, and i am attempting to prepare for it. but i think kerry has a chance.

i am just hoping for a clear result, one way or the other. something that can't be disputed. obviously, getting way out in la-la land now, i also want the voting to go smoothly, and whatever fraud might be attempted to end up not mattering. that way, someone will have to concede. it won't get locked up the courts. we have to stop the 10,000 lawyers! in a way i can't believe either side would go the challenge route unless things really do get fucked up. a bad call is one thing, but to start shit (civil war?) b/c you can't accept losing is just unconscionable. for either side -- we have ways of effecting change in this country that don't involve violence. not that a few burning cities wouldn't get the PTB's attention. ahem. that is, this election-chaos cannot become a habit. (or there really will be a societal breakdown.) 2000 was 2000 ... this is now. on a conspiracy level (not that i necessarily believe in conspiracy theories ... except the one about how THE MAN is against us all), one would think the game plan would be longer-sighted, with setbacks such as losing an election at least provided for. (hello, even if kerry wins, he's not going to have a dem. majority in congress. that's good for some serious fucking with right there.) or is the theory that the people put up with the chaos last time, they'll deal with it again, forever and ever, world without end? that is, are we really gonna put every election in the supreme court from now on?

should we then, no matter what happens tomorrow, work to do away with the electoral college? what if a popular vote did decide the presidency? it seems an antiquated system, left over from a more primitive time in u.s. history (but some would probably say the same about social security). there are just so many questions about america's future. will we ever get out of iraq? will this war ever end? will the supreme court get tilted so far right they overturn roe v wade? will we ever find out if dubya is wired during public appearances? where's osama? why do they hate our freedom? got milk? do you want fries with that?

ok, i am officially rambling.

i'm actually grateful that this week for citybeat i'm writing about two artists with no politics (at least, not the executive-branch type) in their work. first was a review of courtney love's performance on the night before halloween at the wiltern. which i will link to after it comes out on thursday. that's actually done. now i turn my attention to singer-songwriter eleni mandell, whose work is very great but much more concerned with sexual politics. sort of. which is actually older than government politics, huh?

today i read a quote from ginmar in an article on salon, about what people will do if bush wins. she's a reservist soldier in iraq, and i haven't linked to her before b/c wasn't sure how publicly the word should be spread. (a friend sent me a link a while ago.) her viewpoint is compelling, and her language vivid. she's a buffy fan who writes fanfic, but i haven't read that stuff. (not a big fan of fanfic, really.) along with being many other things. she's also pretty smart and a feminist, which makes for a real interesting ... uh, contrast with the military status quo. anyway, she often goes on you-tell-it-sistah tears, and beware anyone who thinks of posting a thoughtless anti-comment or email, b/c she is ferociously well-read when it comes to feminist friends and foes, among other things. although she isn't opposed to reasonable debate. a very unique voice, and i think perhaps even representative of an emerging american consciousness.

all right, i really have to go get off the fence about some of this election minutiae. i can't wait 'til it's over. i think.