P.J. O’Rourke wrote “Don’t Vote. It only encourages the bastards.” Here, in Lincoln County, the voting process has been so finely tuned that election day is only a formality that “encourages the bastards.” It occurs not only at Libby, but even in our local elections.
Three times I’ve been “elected” to the Trego school board – once by the members of the school board, and twice “by acclamation” since nobody ran against me. In the county offices, our political placeholders run unopposed. O’Rourke was probably right – the purpose of our elections can be nothing more than encouraging the bastards.
I saw a meme this morning:
I think of the election of 2016 – when voters had to choose between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. I voted for (what I saw) as the lesser evil. Folks who voted the other way did the same. In 2020, I had another opportunity to vote for the lesser evil . . . as did folks who voted the other way. I don’t write off friends because we disagree on which is the lesser evil.
I noticed the Nevada results, when the Dims tied up the majority in the Senate. Ignore the winner – the truly great listing is this:
| None Of These Candidates OTH | 12,070 | 1.21% |
Here, our election officials have mastered the art of the choiceless election – in Nevada, a little over one percent of the population voted for “None of These Candidates.” It’s not worth moving to Nevada to get that privilege.
From school board to the state House and Senate, Lincoln County has grown into the choiceless election. On the other hand, the folks in Pennsylvania had a Fetterman-Oz choice – much the same as we had in 2016 and 2020 for President. I have friends who voted for Trump. I have friends who voted for Hillary, and for Biden. It shouldn’t be necessary to hold your nose when you mark a ballot.
Trego's Mountain Ear 