The 2000 political season is officially over. Praises be to Allah.
We can now breath a collective sigh of relief as our televisions and road ways will be cleansed of every sign and advertisement. No more annoying slogans, no more empty campaign trail promises, and no more duplicitous WASPs buzzing in our ears.
Yes, the party is over, it’s time to call it a day.
So it’s another four years until all this hub-bub again, right? Well, it’s not that simple.
First of all, there are, unfortunately, elections of some sort every two years. These elections range everywhere from county commissioners to US Senators. As a matter of fact, North Carolinians will be voting for their second State Senator, Jesse Helm’s current position, in 2002. So that chops the four years down to two right off the bat.
Next, there is the fact that whoever we elect to be President of the United States will not take office until January. That means a few more months of political aspect stories and profiles of whoever we elect into office. I’m sure MSNBC, FOX News and CNBC will find enough to keep us all more than satisfied. That’s another three months. Our new total: 21 months of freedom.
Third, let’s be conservative and say that the next wave of politicians will start campaigning hard in January of the next election year. Remember: they have to take into account time spent preparing for primary elections. So let’s see, that another 11 months off the back end, so that brings our new total to: 10 months.
So, starting in February, we will have approximately a ten month break from the frenzy of political season. It just doesn’t seem fair…
Not to be more depressing, but consider this one final fact: politicians are, by nature, interested in one thing and that’s getting reelected. That being the case, they are going to do whatever the majority of the voters in their region wants them to do (most of the time, anyway) to ensure victory at the polls the next election year. This means we are all assaulted with the political system 24/7.
This is both a curse and a blessing. On the one hand, this means we are involved with what is going on in the political process and our voices can be heard. On the other, it means we are constantly bombarded with that same process. It’s a nasty double-edged sword, but that’s the price we pay for living in a democracy.
I, for one, am elated at the prospect of an end to this insane season of slander and vituperation. I’m even willing to put up with all the political crap until January just to have that ten month period of freedom.
