Election may foretell scary times ahead
CONCORD, CA (Oct. 27, 2022) — While the little kids prance about as demons and monsters in a general goodwill scare-fest called Halloween, the big “kids” are more engrossed in a less than goodwill time featuring images of the same in what we call local elections.
These are the shadows upon that future Tuesday that will pronounce whether this all has been a trick or a treat.
The ghost of Roe. We will not see a direct battle against declared pro-choice candidates in the very pro-choice Bay Area, but I predict there will be an impact. With the Democrats pushing turnout, especially amongst women, there should be positive support for all female candidates as the sentiment appears to be sustained that women voters will favor women candidates. In Contra Costa, the number of women endorsed by the local Democratic Central Committee outnumbers their counter gender. This may be more prevalent when there is no incumbent.
The emotional demons. It’s often said that governance is about logic, but elections are about emotions. Look to see the fangs come out in close elections. The sad secret about negative attacks in politics is that if they did not work, they would not have been around for the last 240 years. Sometimes it takes a little finesse to see the more subtle negative ads. The best negative ad I have seen was one that was sent to Democrats that showed the Republican candidate with a backdrop of what was intended to be a Christian family at dinner saying grace and talking about a return to Christian values and prayer in school (even outside of algebra tests). There was not one negative word directly. In fact, it looked like a “rah-rah” for the candidate – except the target was 100% opposite those expected supporters of those views.
The monster under the bed. Fear is a great motivator, lurking in the extremes that are reflected on the various candidates regardless of the reality of what they value or think. Fear is more often tied to what will happen if you elect X rather than what you can avoid by voting for Y, as in: “They are under the influence of a special interest that will take your money.”
So, what’s next?
After all the bloodletting and poisoned pen fliers, we will still have to sit down and govern with each other. It is for that reason that I always maintain an open door … or coffee cup at Peet’s Coffee policy and welcome engagement with those who see things differently regardless of how different.
One of the real spooky things going on right now is that people are not talking to one another, literally. We have evolved into the 21st century equivalent of writing on bathroom walls in high school: the internet.
In the current survey at www.pulseofconcord.com, I have questions on positions such as local elections and Roe, or ethnic profiling and the like. Give it a try. After the ballot box settles in November, we can take a look at just what is in our bag of tricks and treats.
The views herein are those of Edi Birsan and not representative of any organized or disorganized group. Want to have coffee? Email EdiBirsan@gmail.com.