Let's Have a Party!!

Legal Disclaimer: It is not my intent to promote the interests of any politician or political party. My sole intent is to poke some fun at things I see and wonder, like many people, at the silliness and dysfunction of politics as it exists today.

I keep telling people that we have 3 viable political parties here in Kansas. I've said this for years! We do have lots of independents, libertarians and others, but they don't seem to be able to wield much political power by themselves. So we are left with:

Democrats
Conservative Republicans
Moderate Republicans

It used to be that the Republicans hated the Democrats and the Democrats hated the Republicans. Okay, maybe hate is a strong word. Mistrust and dislike are probably more accurate.

But anymore, to me, it's more like the 2 wings of the Republican party hate each other (and yes, hate just might be accurate) and the Democrats are all sitting around wondering what is wrong with all those other people and why are they so mad at each other.

And in the past we have usually elected Democrats or Moderate Republicans as governors. A Democrat would seemingly get elected in years where the Republicans were mad at each other, a Moderate Republican otherwise. It's been a long time since we had a Conservative Republican governor, until 2 years ago, when we elected Sam Brownback, a former US Senator.

The political situation is now very interesting. We now have a Conservative governor, the House is controlled by the Conservatives, the Senate by the Moderates and the Democrats and Independents have been sort of relegated to the sidelines. Some have even said we should rename the state of Kansas to "Brownbackistan". Oh, God, I said it; I'll probably get hate mail now, or even worse, audited!

Again, no opinion from me regarding right or wrong, just an observation.

The new county courthouse is in the background, the older one in the foreground. The older building has beautiful architecture. We just outgrew it. Some offices of the county are still housed in the old courthouse, among them the "Elections Office". That office was where I was headed today to see if an injustice had occurred and, if so, to demand justice.

So here's the deal. The primary election is coming up August 7. In Kansas, both the Democrats and Republicans have "closed" primaries. For many years voters who registered as independents, could go to the primary election and select which party they wanted to vote for.  Not Anymore! You have to be registered as a Democrat to vote in the democratic primary, or Republican to vote in the republican primary. Period!

And here's more to the deal, this year!  All the action is on the Republican side of the ledger. In some races, there are no Democrats even running, and those that are running are generally unopposed. But there are many key races with Conservative Republicans and Moderate Republicans vying for the same seat. In fact, it could be said that the 2 wings of the Republican party have declared war on each other, each calling each other RINO's (republicans in name only).

So what did I do? I wanted to be where the action is. Now, mind you, in past elections I have voted all over the place, sometimes Republican, sometimes Democrat, sometimes 3rd party, I usually vote for the person more than I vote for the party. Silly Me!  So I re-registered as a Republican even though I don't have strong feelings for the party. Frankly I don't have strong feelings for any party and never have.

So on the last day possible for registering to vote, which can be done on the Internet, I registered as a Republican so that I could vote in the Republican primary, which is where all the action is. In fact, for most races, it appears, the general election will be a foregone conclusion.

Then a few days later I get this postcard in the mail. It says "Certificate of Registration". It also says "Democratic" Party. I think, "WTF"?

So on Monday, postcard in hand and picture ID in my wallet...

New Law this year, meant to combat the travesty of something like 10 cases of voter fraud in the last 15 years.
You think I'm kidding?

I march down to the courthouse to demand satisfaction, see what was wrong, see if there was a vast right wing (or left wing) conspiracy, see if my rights as a citizen of the world had been violated, etc. I was prepared to contact the local newspaper if the election office had "screwed up". I was ready to even "blog" about it! That'll get some action real quick, NOT!

I was met by two very nice ladies at the front desk and I told them I had an apparent problem with the postcard I received. One of them simply said that everybody who was registered to vote was to receive a card to inform them of their proper districts for various political races and that the information for those cards was generated by the computer systems about 3 weeks ago. She also asked me when I had re-registered, I told her and she said that I should receive yet another card in the mail reflecting the newer re-registered information.

Whew!

But she even took it a step further and said "Let me double check what we have for you in the computer, It'll only take a moment". Sheepishly, I said, "That would be very nice". And, of course, it seems I was properly registered as a Republican like I had originally wished.

So there you have it!

RINO, I am

DINO, I used to be

iINO, is that iPhone in name only?

And finally on a plaque in front of the courthouse.....

Can't we all just get along?

Ride On, and Carpe Diem, my friends

Jimbo