Month: September 2020

Revamp our political process: Elections, round 2

Map showing Illinois US Congressional District 14
From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois%27s_congressional_districts
  1. End gerrymandering – Have you ever wonder why someone on the next block is displaying a sign for a different candidate from the same party during the general election? They could be voting in a different district. Take a look at this map of the 18 congressional districts in Illinois for the US House of Representatives. Just scroll down and look at the weird shapes, like the 4th, 6th, and 7th (were they trying to draw a couple of the Great Lakes sideways?) districts. These are districts drawn specifically to create voting blocks, rather than for any logical campaign or representation needs. I realize each district needs a comparable number of voters, but this is absurd.
  2. Publicly funded campaigns
    Why should you be rich or good at fundraising to run for office? Much like the issue with career politicians, the amount of money needed to campaign encourages people who are out of touch with middle and lower class citizens to run for office; the average citizen can’t afford to fund a political campaign. As an alternate, remove private money from the campaigning process – give each candidate for a position the same amount of money or material: a set number of ads, mailers, etc., all based on the geographic range of the campaign (a local judge needs less advertising than a presidential campaign). Run all promotional materials through a common site where supporters can purchase them – a face mask (now a thing for political campaigns) for one candidate will cost the same as another, with the intent that it covers the cost rather than generating a profit for the campaign. This would have an added benefit of moving away from our two party system. Make our public servants campaign on issues rather than funds.
  3. Automatic voter registration
    We provide the government our information – mostly importantly, our current address – every year when we file taxes. They should also have information on whether the person filing taxes is a citizen; if not, it’s a simple checkbox to add to an overly complicated form. So why should we jump through varying hoops by state for voter registration when the government already has the relevant information? Voting is both a right, but it’s also an obligation, and it should be encouraged.
  4. Election day holiday or expanded early/mail voting options
    I don’t actually think both of these are necessary. I know other countries schedule election day as a holiday or on weekends to encourage voting, and I thought it was a great idea when I first heard of it. I think the early and mail voting options override that need, since having a month or two of voting options certainly supersedes trying to cram everybody into a voting line on a single day.

P.S.: Early voting has started. Remember to vote.

Revamp our political process: Elections, round 1

The political process in the United States is, as in many places, flawed. Of course, it’s flawed in unique ways, given that each country’s government is different. I have some thoughts on ways it can be improved, specifically in terms of our elections, some of which I’ve heard from other sources.

  1. Abolish the Electoral College
    The purpose of the United States Electoral College was to balance the quantity of free men in the northern states with the number of slaves populating the southern states; slaves were counted as three-fifths of a person for determining electoral college votes and representation in the House of Representatives. The Electoral College should have been abolished when slavery was; the benefit it provides now is to presidential candidates who can tailor their campaign promises on a few swing state issues, instead of working towards serving the country as a whole.
    While you could argue that it benefits sparsely populated states like Wyoming, as a state Wyoming has only voted for a Democratic candidate once in the last 50 years; as a result, it’s likely to be ignored by all candidates. It certainly doesn’t benefit Democratic voters in a “red” state, or Republication voters in a “blue” state – their votes are effectively ignored. Eliminating the Electoral College would mean every vote really counts.
  2. Term limits
    We have a problem with career politicians who stay in the same position for decades. When an election rolls around, they benefit from name recognition, which a new candidate – either from the same party in primaries, or in the general election – is typically lacking. The problem with career politicians is the tendency to lose touch with the average person, as they get dragged into the inter-partisan bickering, never-ending fundraising, and professional lobbying efforts. How can these people possibly represent us, the “little guys,” if they’re busy building their wealth instead of remembering that they are public servants?
  3. Campaign duration limits
    It’s September 2020, six weeks to the general election, but it feels like we’ve been hearing about this Presidential election forever. Well, we have… Andrew Yang announced his Democratic candidacy on November 6, 2017; and according to Wikipedia, the first Republican candidate announced his intention on April 15, 2019. (This feels like misinformation, since the current president actually started his 2020 campaign ads back in 2017.) Is it any wonder that the voting public is burnt out on the election news? I suggest restricting when the campaign for each position can start – maybe give the primaries one month before that election, and two months of campaigning before the general election. Give us a break, and let our politicians actually do the work we’re paying them for instead of spending their time campaigning.
  4. One Primary date
    Related to the ridiculous ongoing campaign season is the sprawling range of primary dates. By the time the last states vote, the primary is already effectively done… it’s just another way that voters are disenfranchised. In 2020, with some states having to push their Presidential primary dates back because of the pandemic, the primaries ranged from February to July; by the time Delaware, New Jersey, and Louisiana voted, there was only one Democratic candidate in the race.

I know that’s a bit more than two cents worth of thoughts… in fact, I have more, coming next week. I think these changes would drastically improve our political process and make our politicians better public servants.

P.S.: Early voting has started already in some states. Remember to vote.

Making masks fun

It seems like we’ll be wearing masks for a while, since studies have shown that the the Coronavirus is primarily transmitted through airborne particles. Wearing a mask primarily protects other people from particles you emit, but can also help protect you from theirs. Given the sudden need everybody has for masks, lots of companies are now featuring them on their websites, in stores, and in online ads. Some of them look quite lovely, given the variety of fabrics involved. Even political campaigns have jumped on the bandwagon, even those where the candidates disavowed the pandemic or refuse to wear masks in public themselves.

But I don’t really want a mask that says “Keep America Racist” (OK, it may say great, but it means racist), or any other mask that makes me a walking political advertisement. I’m fortunate to both know many crafters and own a sewing machine myself. Early in the lockdown, I ordered a couple masks from a friend, and grabbed some of my spare fabric to make some masks while waiting for those to arrive. Since then, I’ve purchased more fabric, including snagging some Avengers fabric in the remnants bin, and received a couple masks as gifts.

Assorted masks including Avengers, cats, Harry Potter, and science symbol fabrics

I find the different styles fascinating. My masks are all using the same pattern from CraftPassion.com, and were initially made with elastic – yes, I had spare elastic lying around. It’s like spare fabric or yarn, it just happens when you craft too much. The masks we ordered have ties, which are easy to maneuver, and bypassed the sudden rush on elastic everywhere. The masks from my sister-in-law, which includes the chibi Harry Potter one, all use cord and have beads to adjust the tightness. Cassandra and I both prefer those, and the pattern I’m using is flexible, so I’ve adjusted to something similar, just with a thick yarn. (Did I mention having spare yarn?) And my one mask with cats on it is also my only mask that hooks on the ears.

On my morning walks, I prefer elastic, so I can wear the mask around my neck except in the rare cases where I cross paths with another person. For grocery shopping, any of the styles will do, though I try to save my cat mask for vet appointments. As a fringe benefit, the masks can also be worn while cleaning house… it helps suppress the bathroom cleaner smell, which is quite intense.

I suggest finding a style or two that suits you, and definitely a color or pattern you like, since it seems masks are going to be around for a while.

“It must be mine!”

There isn’t a lot that I need or want to buy most of the time. If anything, I need to clear things out of my house to declutter. So it’s a fairly rare occasion when I see something that makes me channel Dork Tower’s Igor and say “It must be mine!”

I’ve always liked the “Hate has no home here” signs, but they didn’t quite call to me as something I needed on my lawn… until the sign turned up on my Facebook feed with translations in Elvish, Klingon, and Gallifreyan. And that called to my inner geek, which as we all know, is not generally limited to the “inner” part. But my Google-Fu failed, I couldn’t find the sign.

As it happens, a friend of a friend had recently added one to their yard, so where my Google-Fu failed, social networking succeeded, and found me this Tweet:

Hate has no home here - in Elvish, Klingon, Gallifreyan, and English

The sign isn’t being commercially produced, so it’s not available to purchase. The PDF, however, is available if you provide a record of donating $5 (or more!) to a local food bank. It can then be printed as a yard sign by your local FedEx shop, or assorted online options. Part of the appeal, to me at least, is that these are coincidentally my earliest fandoms – we started watching Star Trek (re-runs) and Doctor Who as young children, and I started reading Lord of the Rings late in elementary school.

Today in particular, I think it’s important to remember that we all share a planet and as a species, we should appreciate the cultural differences spread across the globe. And across fandoms, obviously.

Cat personalities

Like people, each cat has a distinct personality… I say as I step away because Zuko is getting into something he shouldn’t. Kittens are a bundle of fun and defensive actions. However, as the youngest member of the house, he’s the last on my list to talk about. Unless he commandeers the keyboard, of course… he jumped me from round 1 to round 5 of a workout yesterday.

Zuko and Diane napping on the sofa

Diane, our oldest, is generally the calmest cat in the house. She hasn’t really warmed up to Arwen over the past couple years, so we were surprised at how well she received Zuko. Diane is the slowest eater, and likely to stare at the other cats as they push into her food bowl rather than stopping them. She’s smart enough to figure out the hunt & feed toys, but doesn’t like competing with the other cats for food, so I end up putting out multiple toys when I feed them dry food. She only climbs on the counter looking for human food when she thinks nobody is watching, and will guiltily slink off when spotted.

June was a young mother when we adopted her and has always been interested in bathing everybody. Note that I didn’t say “every cat” – she’ll bathe anybody who will let her (which does not include me!), and habitually licks furniture and walls too. She’s still a bit unsettled about Zuko’s arrival, but I expect that she’ll eventually bathe him too. She will occasionally paw at my bedroom rug, purring loud enough to be heard across the room. On the rare occasion we find her on the counter, it’s because nobody was in the room and Diane was already up there cleaning a tray or pan. An expert at hiding, she will flee to her nearest hiding spot when caught on the counter.

Arwen, Zuko, and June searching for food

Arwen, with a hunter’s metabolism, has always been food-oriented, to the point where she gets locked into my room before we even start preparing food. She spent the last couple years trying to convince Diane to play with her, and now thinks it’s annoying when Zuko does the same to her. Kitty karma, especially the lurking outside the litter box while it’s in use part. Particularly in the winter, she sleeps on my arm, purring me to sleep. She likes heights, frequently jumping to the top of a bookshelf to loom over the room like a gargoyle. When found on the counter, she will rapidly look for something to eat, or eat whatever she thinks she found before she gets removed. No guilt there at all.

Zuko hanging from a curtain

Zuko is unquestionably a kitten. He demands attention, pawing and nipping at ankles, or jumping up on me during work and purring loudly while he settles down for a nap. Once he’s settled, I’m allowed to set him on the sofa. By the time he’s too heavy to climb curtains, I suspect I will need new curtains. Zuko’s counter exploration is mostly just exploring – he tends to jump up outside of meal time, then wander or sit down comfortably until he’s removed. I realize he has Arwen as a bad example, but hopefully I can teach him that the kitchen counters and dining room table are off limits.