Today is primary day here in Washington, DC, where the biggest local issue, perennially, is statehood for DC, and where the best argument against statehood for DC, Marion Barry, is still being elected to public office (he serves on the city council).

The District of Columbia has a closed primary, so you have to be registered with a party to vote today. The three parties on the ballot are the Democratic, the Green, and the Republican.

The Greens

The Green Party in DC is actually the Green-DC Statehood Party, i.e., the Green-Marion “I’m-A-Race-Demagogue” Berry Party, so, for me, not being a member of Marion Berry’s race, the Green Party is out. (What is it about the Green Party, anyway? They are always the Green-Che Guevera Party, or the Green-UFO Welcoming Party, or the Green-Barefoot Communists Against Aging Party, or the Green-Maximum Membership of Ten Party, or something like that. Come on guys, make it possible to vote for you.)

The Republicans

The Republican Party in DC hasn’t had a new member since Eisenhower was president, and in some neighborhoods (mine, for example), it may even be illegal to be both a registered Republican and a resident. The Republican Party of the District of Columbia has a mailing address at a Mailboxes Etc location, and even that’s in Virginia. I wouldn’t mind, so much, but I would never register with a political party that installs lobbyists to serve as national committee chairs. I can’t be a member of a party that would inflict George W. Bush on the country in 2000, and then, when there is no excuse for it, do it again in 2004, and then, only because the damage Bush can do is limited by the Constitution to two terms, offer up as its nominee for 2008 the one person in the country who would be worse: John McCain.

The Democrats

The Democratic Party isn’t a viable option for me, either, and hasn’t been since I was old enough to vote. I turned 18 after it had already jettisoned its traditional role as the champion of the little guy against the predations of the powerful, and replaced it with group-identity politics. The whole group-identity politics thing is as boring to me as it is harmful to the country and ultimately as fatal to the democracy as it will be fatal to the Democratic Party as soon as there is an opposition party for people whose group-identity is American and is run by citizens for the benefit of citizens—not by lobbyists for the benefit of the corpocracy.

So, as a resident of DC, I can’t vote today. Instead, maybe I’ll go get one of those “No Taxation without Representation” bumper stickers you see everywhere around here (the slogan is even on the license plates) and then spend the rest of the day at a pub talking politics with Dems and Greens.

Tags:   democratic party · green party · republican partyNo Comments