The Process

 From the backseat of my son's car, my wife said, "It's democracy we have to look out for now." These words came after a long day of bumping into all the impediments we could imagine to the way of life we once held dear. Democracy, a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state. When the people are united, they can never be defeated. 

That's what we've been told, after all. But somehow it doesn't seem that way from where we were sitting. Back seat or front seat. Thousands of people in Oakland have spent the past few weeks voicing their displeasure and indignation to the democratically elected school board. The school board that decided to close schools. One of those schools is the one where I work. And if you can believe this: I once helped get the president of that school board get elected. I gave glowing quotes to his campaign. I voted for him. I would like very much now to have that vote back. But that's not how democracy works.

Then there's Ukraine. A democratically elected government is being threatened by its former empirical overlords. If shelling its cities and rolling tanks into their streets can be considered "threatening." It's more like turning back the clock. Back to the bad old days. All that voting and participating in elections turns out not to mean so much. Not in the face of artillery and carpet bombing. 

And speaking of counting votes, we are still, as a country stuck wondering if the results of every election will be subject to question and potential insurrection. The guy who was impeached after losing not one but two presidential elections via the popular vote is still trying to to contest the results that have been certified by Wikipedia and other important bodies. This same guy was impeached, as I was saying (twice), the first time was for trying to extort some dirt on his opponent from (wait for it) the president of Ukraine. What did the former game-show host want to give Ukraine in exchange for misinformation about Joe Biden and Russian interference in U.S. elections? Military aid. 

Oh, and I wonder if Russia will close down any schools in Ukraine once the smoke clears.