This primary election day found us once again volunteering to work at the polls. I was a bit horrified at the location: the boro building of Youngstown, PA. It’s a garage used by the city maintenance people. It’s as dirty as you might expect such a building to be, with dust and rust to be seen everywhere.
Youngstown is one of those many small towns, municipalities, and boroughs scattered throughout Pennsylvania and the US. One wonders how it survives as an entity, and why people still live there.
I also wondered if they couldn’t afford the “ugh” to round out the word “borough.”
Many of the voters (about a quarter of the 198 eligible) were older, but there were some younger people, too. And many were Republican (with the close proximity of the “Trump House”—look it up, I refuse to provide a link), that’s not really surprising. Yet there turned out to be a good number of Democrats, who probably feel outnumbered at times.
All of this gave me time to reflect again on why blue collar people would be Republicans. What in that party—except the current fascination with authoritarianism, racism, and xenophobia—attracts them? I have no idea what help they think they’re going to get, unless they think a Republican president is going to force oil companies and retailers to magically drop their pricies. (I’m guessing that it’s not going to happen.)
So I appreciate the democratic system, and yet at the same time, worry as Plato did that some minds can be unduly influenced by emotion to act in their own worst interest. Some problems never change.
And then there was the guy who showed up demanding to vote as an independent. The laws governing the primary are clear: you have to be registered Republican or Democrat to vote in this election. He became very heated, saying he took off work and was here to cast his vote and help out a friend who’s running for county commissioner. He was sent packing.
Two other things about this: according to the person in charge of the polling place, this is the third time he’s shown up and done this. Not to mention there were no vacant county commissioner seats on the ballot. So he was just there to make trouble. Again.
I’ve said before that in the past I’ve always felt pride when voting, and being part of this system. But lately I’ve been finding that the system is getting rusty and is in need of some repair, more than just cosmetic changes. Otherwise, America is going to look like that old 1970’s Buick driving around with what we called cancer eating away at the bodywork and bumpers.
MUSOFYR 