Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Monday, October 24, 2016

Living the Charmed Life

For a political addict I am living a charmed life.

Oregon and Washington have been the only states that vote 100% by mail. (It may be that Colorado has now joined them.) I was appalled this week reading about early voting in North Carolina where it was an hours long wait time to vote. Our ballots arrived on Friday or Saturday. Sunday we read the Voters' Guide that had arrived in the mail a few weeks ago and voted. Bob walked up and dropped our ballots in the mail this morning. Voting was such a nice experience for me. Politically Oregon is a good place for me to live.

Up until the George W. Bush administration I actually believed those the country elected actually went to Washington with the good of the country first in their minds. Realizing that was not true was difficult for me.

This election season is about over but I refuse to let the ugliness take away my childlike faith in our country.  I have a stack of wonderful coffee table books about the White House, former First Ladies and Presidents. In the coming days I'm going to look at those books again and pretend Donald Trump never happened.

19 comments:

  1. I used to believe those elected had our interests at heart, too. I once asked my grade nine students to write about the first time adults let them done. One sweet girl wrote about learning, in grade 4 or so, that President Clinton had affairs. She was devastated to learn a president could do this. Up to that point, I'd never considered the effect of Bill Clinton's dalliances on children. How are children affected by Trump's many vile acts? I like your child-like faith in our country....

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    1. It's the only way I can deal with all this mess. I love pomp and circumstance. Jimmy Carter always irritated me for trying to take it away. I love inaugurations. Rather like celebrating Christmas. Too soon the ones we elected will get down to the work of disappointing voters.

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  3. Well, you learn something every day! I had no idea that the voting in those states happened by mail. Fascinating.

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    1. When we first moved to Oregon it seemed really odd to me not having any polling places at all, I mean none. I love it. I wouldn't be able to stand in a long line.

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  4. Your last sentence made me laugh! If only we could (forget).

    NY is way behind the times. No early voting. Mail-in ballots allowed only for the disabled or if you plan to be away on election day. I do wish they would make voting easier for everyone, with agreed upon rules nationally. I remember seeing the long lines on TV for the state of FL during our last election. This is disgraceful. It should be easy to vote, not a hardship.

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    1. I cannot imagine why more states don't vote by mail only. It runs very smoothly in Oregon. We don't have all the problems some states have. Because every voter gets a ballot mailed to their home and it's so easy to do I've been encouraging young voters to vote this election. Not telling them how to vote but encouraging them to develop the habit of voting.

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  5. In way too many red states they are trying to cut down on early voting and closing polling places. We should be trying to make it easier to vote, not harder. Here, if you are disables, over 65 or going to be out of state, we can vote by mail and I take advantage of that.

    I really hope we can pretend Trump never happened, but I don't think he will going quietly into the night if he loses and way too many of his followers are itching to have an armed war.

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    1. Voting is entirely too hard in many states. It should not be so hard to exercise the right to vote. Oregon did an excellent job setting up mail only voting. I suspect the powers that be in some states don't want it because it's harder to pull some of the voter suppression stunts they engage in. Shame on them.

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  6. It's people like you who fallow the issues and do research and vote that make for good countries. Trump will be remembered for a long time for being a fool.

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    1. He's not the only fool Americans have fallen for. I used to worry because people say I'm an intellectual. That bothered me a lot. I didn't mean to sound like a know it all. Finally figured out it's not me knowing too much, it's others knowing too little!

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    2. I like your last sentence.

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  7. As Washington state residents, we love vote by mail too. I do remember going to local polling places. they were all over, in schools and churches and other public places. We never had really long lines. Here on the Pacific coast we understand making voting easy and inclusive.

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    1. Absolutely. It's a pleasure to vote in Oregon. Another one of the many things I love about the PNW.

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  8. Myson has voted, went to the town office. I believe we can request a mail ballot in VT for cases of being away or ill. Otherwise it is go stand in line at the polling place. I don't mind that. It gives me a sense of community.

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    1. There is a feeling of nostalgia for some people for the experience of standing in line to vote. I've read about families who gather at mom & dad's for a celebration after family members have voted. I had sympathy for that until moving to Oregon from Texas. No way do I want to go back to polling places and lines.

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  9. My two hopes are:

    1. he loses, and
    2. he loses so badly, he takes away the majority of down-ballot Republicans with him, so his party can blame him, and rally against him.

    An old broad can dream. :)

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  10. p.s. in California, you can apply for permanent absentee ballot, simply because you want to. We did about 8-10 years ago, and have never looked back. :)

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    1. I share your two wishes but am afraid to feel confident that will happen. My hope is the once Obama is out of office he will lead the Democratic Party in making healthy changes starting from the ground up.

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