Ask Ructions: Your Problems Solved or Made Worse.
Dear Ructions,
I’m in a fix. There are some intense local primaries in Connecticut in two weeks. I live in one of the cities in which the mayor faces a serious challenge. I’m involved in politics and dread these fights at home. I’ve tried to keep my head down but there’s no safe zone in a town with intense politics. Grudges here have a half-life longer than what’s buried in Chernobyl’s Unit 4.
The incumbent has not been very good. The challenger is running an energetic race. On the merits alone, the challenger ought to win. Merits, however, are never the only factor. I’m more interested in improving the bigger world than I am in making sure traffic lights are synchronized, but local fights can end the most glittering careers in formation. These grudges don’t fade.
How can I maneuver through these treacherous weeks?
Jammed and jelly
Dear Jammed,
Why so timid? You’re in New Haven and think you can be a bystander in an epic battle. Have a look at Jimmy Stewart in the 1965 movie Shenandoah for a look at the fate of the righteous bystander. However will you survive the early going in the crowded 2020 presidential campaign?
Here’s a good first question to ask a candidate: Do you live here? After that, if you need to proceed to the next question, move on to assessing achievements, ability, philosophy, character, and the inner circle. Your ambivalence suggests you have not had a look at that spreadsheet of charges on a city credit card that’s been making the rounds. You could talk to your trusted friends, if you have any, and decide to divide yourselves equally between the competitors with an eye to protecting each other from reprisals when it’s over.
If you are determined to hide, do it in a visible spot. See if you can work as an official in a polling place on primary day. Check in voters, hand out ballots or stand near the exit giving out “I Voted” stickers. Guard your future by staying well clear of absentee ballots.
You could also organize a fundraiser with a local non-profit. set up outside a polling place and sell (or give away if you can find a generous benefactor) those reusable bags with the organization’s logo on each side. Those bags, when we remember to put them in the car, are saving the planet. We are continue in the intense purchasing phase of bags as we adopt another way to improve our world in daily life. Isn’t that why you’ve chosen a life in the stew of public service and politics?
If you are impaled on the horns of a dilemma and want to risk receiving advice, send a message to kfr@dailyructions.com. Identities will be protected. Messages may be edited.