We all know (or were) the child who is constantly asking, from the moment the car pulls out of town on the journey, “are we there yet?”
Many of us feel like that when it comes to the 2024 election here in the States for Massa – and are upset when we realize that the actual election day is still almost two months away (sigh – the cup is half empty, right?). And even more when we realize that day is probably just phase ONE (or TWO) of the election melodrama this year.
Melodrama? Why? Phase ONE is the pre-election day voting madness. No we are not talking about military personnel overseas, who must mail in their absentee ballots by Saturday, 21 September, to ensure they are counted. We are talking about States like Minnesota and Virginia which allow “no-reason” voting in person or by mail starting on Friday the 20th of September.
Phase TWO is actual “Election Day” of Tuesday, 5 November. (Only for Libertarians, Green, Prohibition, and Natural Law Party members: Republicans vote on Wednesday and Democrats vote on Thursday of that week: unless they are already dead.) Seriously: that actual standing in line and punching or marking ballots or pulling levers or touching screens on Tuesday is just the beginning.
Phase THREE will be the vote counting and certification by local elections officials. Done in essence simultaneously with massive numbers of attorneys filing suits and very loud volumes of screams from everyone concerned – accompanied by ballots disappearing, appearing, accusations, and more.
Phase FOUR will be the Electoral College casting the real votes – and the grand drama around that.
Phase FIVE will center on the Capitol and possibly the SCOTUS building behind it as Congress does this and that and more lawyers jump into the dog-pile.
Plus whatever other Phases are triggered by all and sundry – even if the violence more and more people are predicting does not come to pass.
And you thought water torture was bad?
But all of that is in the future. Right now, the screaming and the ranting and raving and posturing are reaching levels of hysteria that are rare in American history. (And unfortunately becoming more common.)
As an example: the pundits and prophets and published stories make you wonder how many versions of reality exist. And how long you can see and hear these and still retain your sanity and rationality. For example:
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Judicial independence? Really?
In an interesting development, a “mob” of more than 200 protesters stormed the Senate a few days ago. No, not the US Senate, but the Senate of the United Mexican States, Estados Unitos Mexicanos, in Ciudad Mexico. Why? They were protesting the Senado de la Republica’s vote to reform the nations’ judiciary system.
Indeed, the Senate was forced to flee their chamber and assemble in a different location!
Why?
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