democracy now

Last night was my first taste of caucusing in the notorious Texas two-step. The Obama campaign made it sound like it would be quick and painless, but we were there for three hours! We waited for about an hour outside in the cold – Obama supporters on one side of the sidewalk, Clinton supporters on the other. In our precinct, the voters seemed to be pretty split demographically. My experience definitely didn’t support the race theory of African American for Obama and Hispanics for Clinton. I even met a Hispanic couple who were split on their support, which I really liked. The only difference between the camps really seemed to be age and experience. Most people for Clinton were older and solidly Democrat. On our side, there were a lot of students and young professionals who had never participated in the political process before and also a significant amount of Republicans. The mood was jovial, though an extremely loud and overbearing Clinton supporter seemed to get on everyone’s nerves.
A humorous moment occured when the sprinklers on the Obama side came on and a mass exodus to the Clinton side ensued.

Once the caucus started everyone was patient as 62 supports entered a small room and had to wait for about an hour to be verified that they had in fact voted in the primary. The final count came down to 30 Clinton supporters and 31 Obama supporters with 1 undecided. The 1 undecided took his sweet-ass time keeping everyone in suspense and then chose Clinton. Making this an even split, we were then forced to have a COIN toss for delegates since 9 delegates cannot be split down the middle. Ah, the democratic process in all its glory. The coin toss came out with Clinton on top, so they got 5 delegates and we got 4. We then split up to elect our delegates and vote for them. I’m pleased to report that Than is an official precinct 53 delegate to the county convention.

After this lengthy process we came back into the room where the Chair opened it up for resolutions. Now, this is where it all got dicey. The lone undecided approaches the Chair with at least 20 pages of single spaced resolutions! I’m not kidding. The chairman started to read each one and we were supposed to stay and vote over each. After the fourth resolution, Than and I couldn’t take it anymore. We were starving and had had our fill of democracy. So, we snuck out.

I’m pretty disappointed with last night’s results, but more than that I’m exhausted. I think it’s healthy. I’m relieved that Texas is over because I don’t really have the energy to stay as engaged as I have been. I doubt I’ll ever caucus again (in Texas at least) unless there is another candidate like Obama, but even then…politics is politics. It is exciting, but it is also grueling…and it is not the final word, at least in my life. I’m grateful that I can now shift my gaze to other things with a healthy dose of realism. As much as I like Obama, it really makes me sad how much must be sacrificed to really participate in politics. I admire those who do it and I feel sad for them as they are forced to exalt in my mind a false notion of nation and patriotism.

I don’t regret getting involved at all, and I will continue to stay engaged. It’s been a fascinating process. But when Senator McCain talks about our hunger to devote ourselves to a higher cause (the USA) or Obama talks about America being the hope of the world, I simply cannot concur.