Changing to daylight savings time creates a problem for the resident faculty at Blogistan Polytechnic Institute, as it steals an hour from the time they spend in the wine cellar library drinking thinking on our motto of Magis vinum, magis verum ("More wine, more truth"). They were more sluggish than usual as they made their way to the hot tub faculty lounge for their weekly planning conference game where the underwear goes flying. Maybe it was the lost hour. Or maybe they saw how much work there is to do this year, and thought of Bette Midler's Angst On a Shoestring.
More below the fold....
First our usual thanks to last week's guest lecturers. Last Tuesday, Professor of Neuroholdemology Caractacus pondered his daughter's question "Are You Happy, Daddy?" and the topic of happiness generally. Last Wednesday, Professor of Juronursinfosystology FarWestGirl was unexpectedly busy elsewhere, so her lecture on messaging and packaging for Fred was rescheduled for March 24th, and we saw yet another argument between the Professor of Astrology Janitor and the Janitor Professor of Astrology. Professor Caractacus' diary was well worth reading if you missed it. As for the argument, we hope the two of him sort it out soon.
Tomorrow Professor Caractacus continues his Things We Learned This Week series with a review of several political profiles from last week's New York magazine. And on Wednesday, addisnana makes her debut at the BPI lectern with a look at what life might be like after a week without government. As always, Chef will appear with coffee and bagels, and the Professor of Astrology Janitor will disappear in a puff of cream cheese.
Note: We currently have guest lecturers scheduled for the rest of March. However, we still have no one to post the "Top of the Morning" featurette on Wednesday mornings. If you would like to guest host Morning Feature on a Wednesday in April, or post TotM on one or more Wednesdays, please volunteer in the Tuna Can below.
Which leaves the resident faculty and Bette Midler's classic Angst On a Shoestring, produced for the David Letterman Short Film Festival in 1985:
At our local Democratic Party meeting Saturday, we discussed a plan for our members to make a total of 3900 phone calls over the next four weeks, one to each of the Democratic voters who have registered in our county since November 5, 2008. Some have moved into the county since the 2008 elections. Some wanted to vote in 2008 but registered too late. They're new voters, and we'll be calling each one to encourage them to vote by mail in 2010.
Why bother?
Research shows that voting by mail increases turnout, not only in the number of people who vote, but the number who vote on each ballot question. Voters who come to the polls often vote only the top of the ballot - high-profile candidates and referendums - and don't bother with state legislators, local offices, and other initiatives. Voters-by-mail, seeing all of the candidates and questions, have time to consider voting decisions they otherwise often skip. Voting by mail also saves money for states, as they need fewer poll workers on election day, and prevents or limits many kinds of voter suppression.
Of course we'll also try to contact every other registered Democrat in our county, starting with the Super Voters who vote in every election.
Why bother?
Why call Super Voters if they always vote anyway? First, it's good to touch base and the Super Voters are the real base. Second, precinct leaders invite Super Voters in our precincts to join our voter contact teams and help us contact the Federal Voters - who usually vote only in federal elections - to encourage them to vote in 2010. We'll be electing our governor, a U.S. senator, our U.S. House representatives, as well as state legislators and voting on ballot initiatives like fair districting, which will be important as our districts are redrawn after the census. We're working to turn out as many Democratic voters as we can, and to get them to vote every race and question on the ballot.
Why bother?
But really, what difference does it make? Aren't Democrats just like Republicans anyway? No. There are important differences between the parties, and this week we'll look at some of them. Not every Democrat is progressive, nor is every progressive Democrat as progressive on a given issue as some progressives would like. But when we consider the alternative - conservative Tea Party Republicans - their vision of society and government that should make any progressive shudder.
And that's why we bother trying to get Democrats to vote.
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Happy Monday!