Elections on the Brain

BY GAREN YEGPARIAN

Being that time of the year, I am suffering from elections on the brain. It may well be worse than water on the brain. This or that election or campaign or fundraiser or volunteer needs or voter registration or… you get the idea, constantly intrudes.

I’d decided “no more election articles until the run-up to the November election” but I’m weak. I couldn’t help but wonder…

What if voters actually took time, universally, to know who and what is on their ballots and how it impacts them? How would the results be impacted?

What if the Armenian community REALLY got engaged? We’ve done reasonably well in recent years, but many people just don’t fully “get it”. They don’t recognize the impact of legislators on their lives, personally and as part of a community with numerous weighty issues to resolve.

What if the cynicism decreased to reasonable levels among those seeking office and they didn’t mistreat their constituents or see them merely as pawns?

What if, along this last line of thought, the forces been arrayed against the Armenian community where it is densest behaved in a civilized way instead of wanting obedient, sniveling, gofers?

What if they stopped vilifying those in our community who stick their necks out to advance the increased political awareness and participation of American citizens of Armenian descent?

What if they learned to cooperate with a group as internally well organized as the Armenian community is, in a mutually beneficial way?

What if leaders in both major political parties actually kept up their end of the bargain, honored the promises, and treated us with respect?

What if we were not made to suffer the indignities heaped upon us by some in elected office, as if they were some sort of latter-day, non-bloody and far more “polite”, sultan, czar, or shah?

Am I suffering from water on the brain? Is the pressure build-up there making me hallucinate? Will everyone get out and vote in California, Nevada, and other remaining primaries? Has anyone picked up the phone and started brow-beating the authorities about the lack of toilets in Armenia that I wrote about last week? If we don’t ask and act, we’ll never get!