Visual Version of Vaunted View on Voting

. For the November 3 posting the text and graphics were actually composed and compiled for an educational display I put in the ground floor hallway of the building where I work: "Elections: Circus or Serious?"
. Attempting to teach something via that medium requires first catching the eye of a passserby and keeping their attention: lots of color, uncluttered arrangement, plenty of graphics, and a minimum of text. It is helpful to mount some things out of or above the plane of the floor and the back wall of the window box.
. I think I achieved the goal. In fact some did not even wait for it to be completed! They took in the display along with the sight of a human standing in back, assembling it live. Another challenge is given by the fact that the back consists of two doors that swing out in opposite directions. The best display disguises the break between them.
. It is very important to appear non-partisan on a topic like this. For example any election kitsch has to be evenly balanced between McCain and Obama.  (But I had secret satisfaction in the fact that the cup is definitely an Obama mug, with his face just barely hidden.)
. I hope your candidate won. Mine did.

That Sacred/Sassy American Spirit!

Our Attitude About Candidates for Political Office
. What is it about the American spirit such that we both mock and vote for our candidates? Politics and political figures are favorite topics for humorists, and the grist for endless satire both written and performed. Yet we take our right to vote very seriously, considering it almost sacred. *
. No matter the occasional scandal, great pains are taken everywhere to protect privacy of voting. Ballot counting is done under the watchful eyes of representatives of opposing parties to assure the utmost fairness and accuracy. As an example, the U.S. Constitution addresses the popular vote at the very beginning, in Article I: “The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the People…”
* “The sacred rights of mankind… can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.”
–- Alexander Hamilton, 1775

Politcal Kitsch
. Wikipedia defines Kitsch as used “… loosely in referring to any art that is pretentious to the point of being in bad taste, and also commercially produced items that are considered trite or crass.” The iconic American kitsch object is, of course, the pink flamingo. Presidential elections seem to inspire an outpouring of memorabilia the best of which, ironically enough, will later become desirable and collectable “Americana” for example old campaign buttons!

-- Cartoon source: Blog of Liberal White Boy, a self loathing christian.

Serious Political Communication
. Sober messaging to the electorate is very much alive, even simultaneously with the hot party-like atmosphere created by kitsch and satire. It seems almost obligatory for major candidates to publish one or more books around election time.  At each election more technological avenues – new media – arrive for candidates to get their cooler, more detached communications across to voters. Though it would be a stretch to call much of it “restrained” there are boundaries, both formal and informal that reign in the more outrageous or fraudulent promoters. Yet in the Internet Era, when messages reach millions in very short times, opponents must react quickly in their rebuttals and counter-attacks, lest falsehoods survive merely by being in the public consciousness for too long.
. New in this Presidential election: robocalls. Although the technology was developed earlier, 2006 marked the first widespread use of autodialed calls that deliver a pre-recorded voice message if the phone is answered either by a person or their answering machine. This marks their first widespread use in a Presidential election. Public reaction has been negative and will surely affect their deployment in subsequent federal and state elections.
. However a new generation of telephone users is glad that robocalls to cell phones are still illegal under federal law!

-- Cartoon by Don Davis courtesy satiricalpolitical.com.

What difference Does One Vote Make?
• In 1916 one vote in each of the voting districts of California reelected President Wilson. If Wilson's opponent, Charles E. Hughes, had received an additional vote in each one of California's voting precincts, he would have defeated Wilson.
• 1948 - one vote per precinct in Ohio and California gave Harry S. Truman the presidency.

• 1960 - one vote per precinct would have elected Richard Nixon president over John F. Kennedy.
• 2000 The election on November 7, 2000, was the closest presidential race in history. Governor George W. Bush of Texas won Florida’s 4 electoral votes by just 537 votes over Gore!
• But most important of all it makes a difference … to you! Many people today think voting is the most important right Americans have. There are many places in the world where people do not have the right to vote. So go to the polls tomorrow and enjoy it!

After the Party's Over
. What will you do with your political kitsch when the 2008 election is over? The usefulness of some of those items will expire tomorrow, November 4 after the Presidential election is decided. I will still be able to use my Obama for President mug no matter how it turns out. Nonetheless I hope I will be able to use it for "victory coffee"!

--Cartoon adapted from VVork