Primary thoughts

Our primary election came and went. Good people won and good people lost.

The real losers are those of us who fail to stop and enjoy the process — this power-to-the-people process.

A subset of the above “real losers” are those who let their passions extend past general courtesies. Loyalties and passions are wonderful things and important in our election cycles. But we must remember that folks on the other side of the ballot are, especially at the local levels, good and decent people who are well-intended and comfortable in their beliefs.

It’s tough as hell for a person (and their families) to put their neck out by placing their name on a ballot. I am most grateful for each person on the ballot; they continue a long line of folks who were willing to get in the ring because they believed their ideas, energies and experiences would make for a better, city, state or country. Let’s better respect the participants by being a little less passionate and a little more polite to them and their supporters.

Despite the over-the-top passions, it continues to be a beautiful thing to see the election results come in; almost like the magic of a flower blooming through the lens of a time-lapse camera. The will of the voters opens and points to the winner, like a flower directs its colors to the sun.

Another beauty is in being wrong. It may be difficult for some Kind Readers to believe, but there is comfort in realizing that the elections don’t always go according to our endorsements and the endorsements and predictions of other media outlets and political pundits. Frankly, it would be scary and alarmingly suspicious, if elections became predictable. (Although the outcomes in the major races tracked close to the pre-election polls.)

Those of you aware of the looooowwww number of us who go vote may have a hard time squaring up that knowledge with the above floral references. Well, you’re right to challenge my flowery naivety with your solid facts.

Elections are like children. You love them, but are certainly aware of their imperfections. Also, like children, we are responsible for the nurturing and guidance and tough love — or the lack thereof — of our elections.

In Arkansas, we are poor electoral parents. According to the Secretary of State’s office, just 28.88% of registered voters bothered to take just a few minutes out of their lives to participate in the primary election. And it’s worse than that when you consider many folks in the state don’t even bother to register to vote.

Crawford County saw 28.75% of its registered voters fill out a ballot, while the number was 29.25% in Sebastian County, 30.21% in Logan County and an impressive 43.4% in Franklin County.

When we complain that lobbyists, Washington and Little Rock insiders, big evil business interests, big evil unions and others are trashing our government, we must remember that the more power exerted at the ballot box, the less power remains for the special interests you may blame for ruining your view of government.

Miss Ada Mills always said we get the government we deserve. We certainly get what we deserve if we do not honestly and earnestly seek to be an informed citizen. To that point, H.L. Mencken, the most cynical journalist ever, is reported to have said: “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” He also noted: “Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.”

Mencken oversimplifies. The conundrum is that, from my perspective, almost every local election delivers favorable AND unfavorable results from the same group of voters. Also, time provides a readjustment to what was considered favorable and unfavorable on election night.

Which brings us back to this point: We should work to be humble in our wins and gracious in our losses — and vice versa. As one commenter on The City Wire noted, the only thing worse than a sore loser is a sore winner.

Let’s end this missive on a positive note and verbally applaud the folks responsible for providing election results on the Crawford and Sebastian county websites. Officials in both counties had systems in place to quickly and accurately post county election results on their respective websites. The City Wire had freelance reporters in both courthouses, and within just a few minutes (if not seconds) of the reporter calling or texting in with the results, the results would appear on the web.

The websites’ of the two counties were WAY ahead of other counties in the 3rd District — including those of the hip and happening Benton and Washington counties.

Thanks, and we look forward to other online improvements.

And thanks to all of you who voted and those of you who worked at a polling place.