Art Of Food: 3rd Annual Culinary Competition

Voting In Dauphin County: Disturbing
by David Banyas

Here it comes again. Like acid reflux after Thanksgiving, except with a bit more nausea. It’s election time. With all the surefootedness of a blind tightrope walker, we are expected to judge the candidates and assemble our leaders. We must catch the patriotic bug, vote, and bear our biannual responsibility to sustain this democracy that we all fuss about. And whether it was a day ago or a decade ago, we’ve all been on the receiving end of the "Thousands of men gave their lives for your right to vote and you better make ’em proud" address, usually accentuated with a shaken index finger and an unshaken glower. There is a definite sense of obligation in America to live up to the expectations encouraged and protected by the Constitution. The heart of Pennsylvania knows only too well what kind of ruin our country was in a little more than a century ago in the name of freedom. America’s brief and bloody history vividly rouses the intense struggle, which continues daily, of our need to be completely free to do and be whatever we choose.

Freedom is tough. It affords us choices we never knew we had. The competition inherent in capitalist democracies not only keeps clear the path of free enterprise, but lays down an obnoxious, crushed black velvet welcome mat at the front door of the Stock Market. There are a hundred different makes of automobile — each with a hundred models. The local grocer carries at least five brands of each food product in an effort to satisfy every variety of consumer taste. And has anyone recently tried to choose the best long-distance carrier? These companies prostrate themselves before us, the consumer public, in the name of money and prestige just for our approval. They know that we will always have an alternative.

The same can be said for the political forum. All these senators, judges, district attorneys, and other candidates running for a Dauphin County office in the upcoming general election know that we have a choice. With a ballot, the individual can be heard. And since the candidate never knows which individual will be loudest, all voters are kissed lavishly upon their collective posteriors. That is, of course, if there is competition for the position.

In Wayne Township this November, there are fifteen offices to be filled. That adds up to a total of twenty seats. How many candidates do you think that should result in? 45? 55? How about 26. Twenty-blankity-six! Of the twenty seats up for grabs, 14 are uncontested. No one else is running for these posts! Is this the same free market system where you can analyze ten different pasta sauce labels for nutritional value, perceived flavor, aesthetic harmony, and price to aid in making the best choice, but the very gears of our local society are without competition? The voter frustration must be immense. That is probably why Dauphin County voters don’t turn out in regular fashion.

Visiting the Veteran’s building on Market Street, I discovered disturbing patterns. The analyses of the past 15 years’ worth of elections revealed that there are plenty of well-meaning Dauphin-ites that just don’t follow through. Registration numbers topped 100,000 citizens in nearly every single election, primary and general, gubernatorial and presidential alike. Alas, when the time came to actually flick the voting buttons in Dauphin County’s elections, upwards of 70% skipped the general elections and sometimes more than 80% ignored the primaries. Harrisburg residents have a slightly larger menu than Wayne County to choose from with 34 candidates looking for 23 seats, but Harrisburg is notorious for having some of the lowest turnouts in the county. Last election, fewer than 20% of those registered in Harrisburg actually voted. Of course, the pattern changes with what’s at stake in the election: Presidential and gubernatorial years yielded much higher percentages than the odd "filler" years, like 1997 and 1999.

Under more scrutiny, the chart paints a psychology of central Pennsylvanians. In 1988, the major candidates for the presidency were George Bush (Daddy Bush, not Baby Bush) for the Republicans and Michael Dukakis for the Democrats. In that general election, nearly 81% of us turned out to either put Bush in office or run him out of town.

In 1991, when the Gulf War began and Bush’s well-read lips lied about new taxes, 72% turned out. Not bad for a year with neither a new president nor a new governor on the ballot. We were either pissed off, confused as to what was on the electoral block, or both. But the following year produced nearly an 85% turnout to get Bush out of his comfortable, buttocks-dented seat.

Fifteen percent less voters turned out in 1996, when Bill Clinton was re-elected. His only competition was from Bob Dole, a dour man who reminded everyone of the mean old guy down the street who kept all of the children’s balls that rolled into his yard. Maybe we believed that Clinton was going to win anyway, so why vote?

That leads up to today. The presidency became a seedy Jerry Springer episode exposing the leader of the free world as a childish fibber. A variety of wars and skirmishes embroiled our military as "Peacemakers." Our country’s monstrous economic growth (who ever expected the Stock Market to break 11,000?) and diminished unemployment rate has initiated a new heyday for America. The general reduction in crime and drug use among our young brings us hope amid recent isolated acts of senseless violence. The eagle and rhinoceros are off the endangered species list, pollution is coming down, the dilation of the bald spot in the ozone layer is slowly abating, and the Internet has made life a bit more savvy and time efficient. Not to mention the romantic value of voting on the last year of the numeric millennium. What kind of turn out will we be able to produce this time, huh?

To find out, I asked some questions of a few people mulling about Market Square.

SEE INSET BOX

MODE’s Generation Gap Voting Poll
Questions Asked:

1) Are you registered to vote?
2) Did you vote in the last election?
3) Why/ Why not?

Generation X Response:

Male-age 26:

1) Yes

2) Yes

3) "I feel represented by the vote."

Female-age 30:

1) Yes

2) No

3) "I didn’t have the time to actually get out and vote."

Baby-Boomer Response:

Male-age 52:

1) Yes

2) Yes

3) "It’s democracy in action. The individual is best heard through an election."

Female-age 48:

1) Yes

2) Yes

3) "The single vote does make a difference."

Senior Citizen Response:

Male-age 67

1) Yes

2) No

3) "Primaries are often a waste of time, in my opinion."

Female-age 69

1) Yes

2) Yes

3) "I feel that I can put my beliefs into office if I vote."

Not exactly comprehensive, but I think you might find a view here that compares to yours. Whether you have registered or not, you should have a feeling about the democratic process because we are all a part of it.

There is a complex psyche within the conservative neighborhood of Dauphin County residents. Many feel that they have the voting process figured out and put their two cents into the ballot consuming or don’t know enough about the candidates to vote with a clear conscience. And still others feel like they’d be choosing the least of two or three evils. Sure, it’s not perfect, but it’s an attempt to be fair.

To those who understand that not every country has this choice, skewered by the desires of a dictator like Slobodan Milosevic or a shah like the Ayatollah, whose natives are kept in check by a caste system like India or in third-world poverty like so many African nations, and whose people are unfed, unhealthy, and unrepresented, to you who see voting as a fight against these injustices, I’ll see you at the polls.