The Power of the Primaries

So here it is, Primary Tuesday, perhaps the least cared about day in the pantheon of political high holy days.  And, as usual, my thoughts got spurred in an entirely different direction.

This mornings Globe carried an article about the 28x bus lines through Dorchester, Mattapan, and Roxbury.  The article was confusing since the title mentions dissent, the first few paragraphs repeat how the locals are dissatisfied, and nowhere is there a clear description of why these people are cranky.  It’s in moments like these that the comments section fulfills its greatest purpose, answering the question, “Am I an idiot because I didn’t understand what the reporter said he or she was saying?  What did other people experience?”  Fortunately for my early morning piece of mind, if I am an idiot it appears that I share good company for several commentators mentioned the same thing.

In effect, the main complaint is that the management of the MBTA did not make the people living in the areas affected that their opinions were properly taken into account.  Even simpler: the T bosses didn’t stroke enough local egos and that makes people cranky.  We all get grumpy when we feel things are out of our control, when decisions are made without our input, and changes happen that we don’t necessarily approve.

At the same time, we can’t follow the dictates of every person’s whim.  If one hundred people were asked how they wanted to manage public transportation in their area, the answers would probably break down into some variant of the following: 12 I don’t knows, 17 wanting more stops, 21 wanting more buses, 6 wanting fewer stops, 13 wanting fewer stops, 11 decrying the use of fossil fuels, 7 blaming Bush and/or Obama, 2 Russian spies, 10 nuclear protesters, and at least one vote for “pineapple.”  We’ve known this for a long time; this is how societies work.  Socrates commented on it not long before a mob (also known as a group of citizens exercising their pure democratic duties) elected him the proud recipient of poison.

Pure democracy doesn’t work on larger scales.  That is why we have some form of representation.  In theory, the representatives take most of the chaos out of democracy by virtue of having fewer votes and an ability to look over individual interests.  In Massachusetts, the representatives too often become nest-feathering sinecurists  spreading bounty in the form of government jobs and contracts to the faithful and the following.  They do this because there is no fear they will be voted out since that’s been the pattern for many years.

So, this primary, it is my intention to vote in support of newcomers.  This is our chance to prune the election ballot for either party.  There are many who would rather die than vote Republican.

Here’s your chance.  Get rid of the fatcat Dem and support the upstart.  This country was founded by upstarts.  It works for us.

Believe it or not, our voices can carry just as loudly on Primary Tuesday as they do on Election Tuesday.  Let’s get out there and warm up those vocal chords.