The Global Musings of an Educated Man........vol.110
The revolution will not be televised.
On Saturday April 4th, I partook in the democratic process at the ground level, for I was a seated delegate in what was the Ward 1 DFL Convention for City Council. We were electing the person who would receive the DFL's endorsement for Ward 1's City Council Member spot, vacated by outgoing member Paul Ostrow. The convention in and of itself was an eye opening experience once again, and this time knowing full well the excruciating minutia that would be glossed over was needed and the caffeine to withstand the assault against common sense and reason would go hand in hand, I spent my Saturday morning and afternoon watching and waiting and finally voting and shaking the hand of our city's proud Mayor and maybe future candidate for Governor, R.T. Rybak as I sat in the front row, for leg room, in the Edison High School Auditorium. The Convention was a lesson in coordinated chaos. I was all the while searching for the ghost of Hunter S. Thompson as he would have lived through such an event, being there no shortage of bars in Northeast, but I never did find the cigarette holding man anywhere and his white tennis shoes. But what I did find was a strongly reinforced belief that what we have in America may not be the best model for living proof of man's ideal state of freedom, but it is the best that we mankind at this present moment have to offer and so I'll gladly take it, because it also affords me these finer luxuries in life. Take that China and you're paranoia against freedom of information and North Korea's Kim Jong Il....appropriate any other terrorist persona here. The version of freedom that is displayed at a convention is properly aligning yourself with the candidate and their steam powered engine instructing you what to do, when to do it and how to do it. Some people may have had a better time watching Canadian Parliament, as we voted for Chairman of the convention, Co-Chairman, Head Teller and Time Keeper. There were those who were instructed observers and sergeant-at-arms at the doors to lock those out who had left their seat during the time of the casting of the ballots for there are strict rules during a convention, when all time and space are suspended for party benefit, because without rules there is only chaos. I was continually asking myself, "They still shoot horses, don't they?" or at least the film of the same name came to mind throughout the day. Sometimes, you need to just put it out of it's misery. Some may say the same about some of my musings too and Jack Kevorkian would agree whole heartedly. Among the field of candidates of Jose Velez, Doron Clark, our man Kevin Reich, and Susan Howitz Hanna, we cast our lot. After the first round of votes, where 60% is needed to earn the endorsement of the DFL and anyone less than 10% is dropped from the next ballot, Jose Velez had 15.2%, Doron Clark 24%, Susan Hanna 3% and our man Kevin Reich, 56.9%. It was clear our ground force of yellow t-shirts had prevailed. After casting our 2nd round of votes, Doron Clark and Jose Velez conceded and unanimously elected Kevin Reich as Ward 1 winner of the DFL endorsement for City Council for the city of Minneapolis. We were triumphant. He will now be running against the Republican party's candidate, who is to be determined, this coming November. All of this for a City Council member spot. The keys to power hang in the balance. In conclusion, grassroots organizing and spending my free-time on a Saturday morning and afternoon was not wasted, physically, it only felt that way.
"Freedom's just another word, for nothing left to lose.." Kris Kristofferson
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