Through a Glass, Darkly

I tried to participate in the political process this morning, but The Man is keeping me down.

You see, my town is one of the few places in our county where one can purchase alcohol. Except on Sundays. And not in restaurants. In today’s election, there was a referendum on liquor in restaurants. I decided to vote today just so I could vote for liquor. I did not care what any of the other issues were. I only cared that maybe we could get some good restaurants in our town. All day yesterday I was excited, because I think participating in the political process is important. And because I wanted to thwart the old people who would be voting against liquor. I cackled in excitement of casting my pro-liquor vote. As I passed each sign in town that said, “Vote NO on May 2!” I called out, “I’m voting YES!” I made Mike listen to a long boring monologue about how many signs there were on the way home, and how glad I was to vote yes.

Today, when I went to the school to place my vote, I realized that I was so excited to participate in the political process that I hadn’t really it through. You see, when I got up to the counter, I realized that . . . I live just outside the city limits. The city limits are just across from my neighborhood. I hadn’t considered that in all of my “VOTE YES!” enthusiasm. Not too bright, I know, but I blame it on the fact that I love voting (and, in case you hadn’t noticed, I love participating in the political process). The reason that no one in our neighborhood had signs about the referendum? Is because we aren’t allowed to vote on it. (Which, as our neighborhood is full of newer residents who would probably want liquor as well as better restaurants, is just an example of The Man keeping us down.) So I got my ballot and I voted for other things, but I was bitterly disappointed.

I am sure the referendum will fail, just as it always does, and we’ll never get any good restaurants. So we’ll go into some of the bigger cities instead of putting money into our own community. And people will speak knowingly about not letting “seedy bars” into the town, while the seedy “package stores” are allowed to stay.

But at least I got to vote. I’m wearing my sticker proudly (albeit bitterly).