Election Thoughts: Waiting for the End

Election 2024, Presidential ElectionHang on, folks, we have almost reached the election finish line and I, for one, am tired.

With a week to go before the election, I find myself very tired—for two reasons. The first is having just another 10 days before the cruise ship tour season ends. For weeks, I have driven to Boston multiple times to board a bus and give tours of Boston to the passengers. It’s tiring physically and mentally. Although I enjoy what I do, I must admit that the end of the season sounds good.

The second reason has to do with the 2024 election itself. There, exhaustion comes from multiple sources:

Begging for Election Money

We all experience a constant barrage of candidates begging for money in both national and state candidates. Many of these entreaties come from other states. Yes, I can say or type STOP to put an end to a particular candidate’s requests (many of which sound more like begging or even threats) but more arrive daily.

At the same time, I heard a news report today about how people who get swamped by constant election mailings just throw them out. So, the candidates beg for money to produce mailers that go directly into the trash or the recycling bin. Surely candidates can think of better ways to spend (or waste) this money. I sure can.

But even if we discard mailers, we get emails, text messages, phone calls, and other communications predicting dire results if we don’t contribute. It doesn’t end until election day.

Broadcasting Poll Results

The news broadcasts a steady onslaught of stories about the polls, none of which I believe. These include pronouncements about which candidate is up or down in the results and by how much. None of the reporters have ever heard the words “statistically insignificant.” They treat one point as a landslide.

The polls have delivered incorrect results in the last three elections. Plus, candidates fund polls that produce the results they want. Yet, the media treat all poll results like real news, conflating them with votes. And while I don’t believe them, the results do produce a roller-coaster effect on my emotions.

Listening to Election Speeches

The ongoing news clips of speeches, rallies, and other events that, at least on one side, demonstrate stunning vulgarity, astonishing ignorance, a total dearth of decency, and many other faults. I have relatives and friends who plan to vote for him, one saying she would hold her nose when she did.

Steve Kornacki, Election 2024, NBC Election ResultsUnfortunately, elections don’t register degrees of enthusiasm or reluctance. Steve Kornacki does not report how many voters held their noses when they pulled the lever. Elections are binary: you vote for one candidate or the other. And elections have consequences.

The only way to avoid this is to not watch the TV news or read newspapers and magazines. Meanwhile, the world goes on around us and I would like to know what’s happening in it. So, I grit my teeth and watch or read.

The Battleground States

Given all these annoyances, I still have it easy because I don’t live in one of the seven swing states. Here in Massachusetts, we have very little TV advertising and most of what I see comes from New Hampshire. Our TV ads mostly concern ballot questions and different perspectives on who likes them or doesn’t. I can only imagine what the residents of Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Nevada are experiencing.

Swing States 2024, Battleground States 2024Experts tell us that these seven states will decide the election. I find that offensive. All the states and all their votes should matter. Instead the Electoral College has institutionalized  minority rule in America. The concept of “one person, one vote” can have no real meaning in this country until we rid ourselves of this antique construct, created to persuade the southern states to join the Union.

Waiting for the End

So now, we wait. And we vote. Some days I can’t wait for the election to be over. Then I worry about what will happen if Donald Trump wins. But the indecision drives me crazy and I want it to be over. Eight days. Hang in there.

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About Aline Kaplan

Aline Kaplan is a published author, a blogger, and a tour guide in Boston. She formerly had a career as a high-tech marketing and communications director. Aline writes and edits The Next Phase Blog, a social commentary blog that appears multiple times a week at aknextphase.com. She has published over 1,000 posts on a variety of subjects, from Boston history to science fiction movies, astronomical events to art museums. Under the name Aline Boucher Kaplan, she has had two science fiction novels (Khyren and World Spirits) published by Baen Books. Her short stories have appeared in anthologies published in the United States, Ireland, and Australia. She is a graduate of Northeastern University in Boston and lives in Hudson, MA.

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