Stokes County Election Results
First, I agree with Andy's comments wholeheartedly.
I find it highly amusing that Larry Snyder spent a buttload of money to put on a blitz against Mike Joyce and the net result was 11% for Greg Pratt. Adding icing to the irony cake was that Carole Eliot didn't even run a visible campaign and got 3%. For those not familiar with electoral trivia, 3% is about what anyone who shows up on the ballot can expect to get. We can safely say that Pratt managed to lock up (har-har) the vote of all the miscreants and perpetual whiners who are registered as Republican and unaffiliated. There is almost nothing political to be gleaned from this race, other than to note that it bodes well for Mike in the fall.
On to the Commissioner's race. The political and demographic lesson we can carry away from this is that Joe and Jane Sixpack are still sound asleep. Stokes County's turnout was above the state average, which was about 10%, but still nothing to crow about. Mustering 2500 school groupies to vote for a slate that will fully fund the school system's budget next year was no great feat. The important demographic to remember is that 85% of the population of Stokes County leaves there every day to go to work. If the turnout was 15%, which I suspect it will be not far from that, you have your answer.
Lest some of our erstwhile pundits be tempted to make much out of this, the election results mean roughly nothing in terms of public sentiment, other than that the average Stokes County citizen couldn't care less about their local government. It does mean that we will see a nice, fat tax increase next year. I just have to wonder how much of an increase it will take to roust voters away from their MTV (or American Idol, if you prefer, Strother) and their Doritos and beer. Speaking of Idol, more votes were cast in the last episode of the program than were cast in the last Presidential election. I rest my case.
The general public sees voting as increasingly pointless. I can't say I completely disagree. After zillions of dollars are spent, voices made scratchy by countless hours of demagoguery, and much adrenaline pumped in the name of getting the voters motivated, the end result is always the same. We continue to slouch toward socialism. The government continues to be inept and impotent in every respect except its ability to snatch money out of one hand and put it into another. Politicians continue to accrue wealth, power, and privilege to themselves.
Thomas Babington Macaulay was right when he observed that democracy could not survive the peoples' discovery that they could vote themselves wealth.
I find it highly amusing that Larry Snyder spent a buttload of money to put on a blitz against Mike Joyce and the net result was 11% for Greg Pratt. Adding icing to the irony cake was that Carole Eliot didn't even run a visible campaign and got 3%. For those not familiar with electoral trivia, 3% is about what anyone who shows up on the ballot can expect to get. We can safely say that Pratt managed to lock up (har-har) the vote of all the miscreants and perpetual whiners who are registered as Republican and unaffiliated. There is almost nothing political to be gleaned from this race, other than to note that it bodes well for Mike in the fall.
On to the Commissioner's race. The political and demographic lesson we can carry away from this is that Joe and Jane Sixpack are still sound asleep. Stokes County's turnout was above the state average, which was about 10%, but still nothing to crow about. Mustering 2500 school groupies to vote for a slate that will fully fund the school system's budget next year was no great feat. The important demographic to remember is that 85% of the population of Stokes County leaves there every day to go to work. If the turnout was 15%, which I suspect it will be not far from that, you have your answer.
Lest some of our erstwhile pundits be tempted to make much out of this, the election results mean roughly nothing in terms of public sentiment, other than that the average Stokes County citizen couldn't care less about their local government. It does mean that we will see a nice, fat tax increase next year. I just have to wonder how much of an increase it will take to roust voters away from their MTV (or American Idol, if you prefer, Strother) and their Doritos and beer. Speaking of Idol, more votes were cast in the last episode of the program than were cast in the last Presidential election. I rest my case.
The general public sees voting as increasingly pointless. I can't say I completely disagree. After zillions of dollars are spent, voices made scratchy by countless hours of demagoguery, and much adrenaline pumped in the name of getting the voters motivated, the end result is always the same. We continue to slouch toward socialism. The government continues to be inept and impotent in every respect except its ability to snatch money out of one hand and put it into another. Politicians continue to accrue wealth, power, and privilege to themselves.
Thomas Babington Macaulay was right when he observed that democracy could not survive the peoples' discovery that they could vote themselves wealth.
posted by Anonymous | 12:15 PM
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