Primary Highs and Lows

I went to vote in the Super Tuesday (makes me hear the Super Trooper chorus in my head) primary on March 1.  It's a thing for me.  If I can, I like to vote on an election day during a presidential year rather than taking advantage of early voting.  Voting is just a big deal for me.  I love the sense of community that comes from voting in person.  I also love the powerful feelings of unity and fellowship that come from attending the precinct caucus ("These are my people!").

Because I spent several years in another county, taking care of my late mother, I have missed this experience.  All of my voting during that period had to be by absentee ballot.  I was physically absent, but I also felt socially absent.  Issues that would have absorbed my attention and concern were far removed from my then reality.  Candidates were less familiar to me than I liked, since I like to know all I can find out about the views and records of those that I vote for.

This March primary was bittersweet for me in a number of ways.  The candidates, warts and all, reflect the frailties of humanity, the confluence of greed and opportunism, the irony of time in hurried flight--when good things come too late.  I walked in to vote with a smile and (almost) dancing feet.  It was good to be "present" again; it was wonderful to fulfill my duty as a citizen and enjoy the freedom to do so without harassment or obstacle.  I really had a gleeful time marking my ballot.  But I left with tears in my eyes.  I remembered past election days with such high hopes for the future, a future that is now and not a realization of those hopes.  I remembered past elections when loved ones no longer here shared the joy and responsibility of this civic duty, making it a family affair.

Lots of things are that way for me these days.  Important.  Difficult.  Full of memories as well as dreams of a better future.  One thing that does give me hope is that one of the eight commitments that we make in the Ethical Society of Austin is to democracy:  Democratic process is essential to our task.  We explain this:

The democratic process is essential to a humane social order because it respects the worth of persons and elicits and allows a greater expression of human capacities.  Democratic process also implies a commitment to shared responsibility and authority.

Many of the issues that drove my vote on Tuesday are expressed in that statement.  From a desire for a humane social order to shared responsibility. there were opportunities on the ballot to support them all.  And that, too, is part of our commitment in ESOA.  We look to the democratic process for the internal operations of the organization itself, we commit to participation in the democratic process in our civic lives, and we work toward preserving the best of our American democracy by supporting inclusion, transparency, and fairness in our public institutions.  Yeah, I'd call that super any old day.