YOUNG DUDES WHO VOTE?

Young dudes who talk about voting have a look.

Some wear a suit and tie, an expression like they’re looking at the sun, and get their hair cut high and tight like the special force they feel a part of.

You’ve seen them in pictures, on camera, looking fierce.

Maybe they are fierce? Incel fierce?

These are young dudes so intent on public life that they don’t have time to date, to meet girls and go out for food and drinks.

But they take the time to complain about not meeting said young women.

And it’s not their fault.

These are young dudes who:

 

. . . define themselves as unable to find a romantic or sexual partner despite desiring one, and blame, objectify and denigrate women and girls as a result.

 

How does this even happen?

Maybe the women don’t want to hear some jacked-up guy yap away on the same topic ten different ways?

That’s what they get from the involuntary celibate dudes talking about voting.

Women can tell which guys are more likely to be good partners from the start, especially a bad start.

Good women pass on young dudes more interested in their public life than their private life, and suit and tie guy fixated on elections always starts the same: It’s all about me, not you. Me.

Those who don’t pass learn all about the continuing life of involuntary celibates.

 

The Other Look

Young dudes who vote, guys with wives and families, see a bigger picture.

They vote with their wives in mind; they vote for the future their kids will live in.

What if their wife needed the sort of healthcare that was illegal in their state?

What if their kid went to school near a known pollution problem?

This is a guy who will vote for women’s health, who will vote for better regulation.

The single twerp whines about getting ignored and votes for continued ignorance; the married man votes for empathy.

Which one is more likely to stop and help you change a tire on the side of the road?

Which one would spend time with you because they know how hard you take it when the Cowboys lose in new ways.

In a bigger picture people vote out of self-interest. The candidate makes a promise, we vote them in to keep that promise.

Self-interest usually means money, as in the ‘first pay yourself’ rule of economics, but this is an unusual election year.

That’s why this blogger on boomerpdx is writing about voting, registering to vote, and mailing that ballot.

Sure, I could let it ride, but then I’d need to do something else. So I voluntarily write blog posts about civic duties.

It’s not for everyone. (Hey Rob)

 

Modern McCarthyism

American history is a history of shit-stirring from every era.

One of the most reviled was a U.S. senator from Wisconsin, Joe McCarthy.

 

 

The same old horses McCarthy beat in the 1950’s are getting another taste of the whip in 2024.

Scare tactics come out because scare tactics work.

There’s a Commie in the closet, a Red under the bed. You never know where some damn commie might pop up.

There’s a movie starring Dustin Hoffman called Marathon Man where he is a PhD history student with a father who was caught up in McCarthyism accusations and shot himself.

It felt like an under-exposed part of the times, the low level state department guys taking falls.

Today there are communities in America under threats coming from scare tactics.

In a time where we could learn from old fashioned manners and decorum, we get shades of McCarthyism.

Instead of carefully chosen words and a well timed delivery, we get the slop and slur of a drunken senator repackaged for social media.

I someone is going to pick up a stick and start stirring, at least make it about a new pile.

Vote, register to vote, for the sort of pile you want to stir, and the people you want on the stirring job.

Leave Old Joe out of this.