The Windkey and the Lamplighter

I am getting seriously irritated with "news" reports on the
Presidential Primaries talking about the $color $gender vote.

I was irritated when, before the South Carolina primary, pundits were
talking about how black women had a difficult decision to
make—between voting for Hillary Clinton because she’s a woman or
Barack Obama because he’s black. I am even more irritated by the
chatter now about how white males don’t have a (Democratic) candidate
to vote for since John Edwards suspended his campaign.

(As I think about this, I realize that race and gender have only been
an issue in the Democratic primary, presumably because all the
Republican candidates considered serious contenders are white males,
and therefore race and gender are not issues about which the media
machine can make hay. We will put the "who’s a serious contender?"
rant in the box for another day.)

Why in the world would I vote for Hillary Clinton because she happens
to have two X chromosomes? Why would I vote (or not vote) for Barack
Obama because he has more melanin than me? This is madness.
It seems to be a damned common madness—this same "us and them"
mentality seems to be behind the violence in Kenya, the "sectarian"
violence in Iraq, and a number of other conflicts throughout history.

Who does it help to divide otherwise rational, modern people into
tribes of mindless sheep? I just don’t get it.

I’ve heard only one serious ray of hope that all sanity has not been
lost: There was a commentator on NPR this evening who sounded about as
disgusted and irritated as I am about the expectations pundits have
for the outcomes of the race (in his case, among the "Latino vote").
He said something lovely, that I will try to quote as best as my
memory allows: that is if there is anything one can say about Latino
voters, it is that they are fiercely independent. He said that this
race will not be decided by outdated stereotypes, but by individuals.

His statement applies to a lot more than Latinos—we are all
individuals, not groups. No matter what group you claim membership
in, or are assigned to by demographers, it’s just you (and maybe
Diebold, but we’ll delay that issue too) in the voting booth.

And, on that note, if you’re in MA, CA, CO or any of the other
states voting Tuesday, make sure you take the opportunity to tell the
parties what you really think. If you’re unenrolled in Massachusetts,
you can vote in either primary and (supposedly) you will not be
enrolled in that party for doing so. (You used to have to fill out a
card available at the polling station to re-register as unenrolled,
but I have been assured that this isn’t necessary anymore because it
caused the state a stupid amount of paperwork.)