At the Fair

County Fairs are always interesting events. Carol and I worked at the Democratic Party booth at the fair one evening. Mainly, it’s an information sharing event. People come by and we try to provide them with information they seem to need or want. Some people just want a visible symbol of their chosen preference—a sticker, maybe a yard sign, or a bumper sticker.
A few people came by and needed to register to vote. We were able to accommodate them by providing them with a registration form. Mostly, the people who stopped at the booth seemed both worried and enthusiastic about the campaign—worried about the possibility of the “Drill Baby Drill” forces once again overwhelming the voices of reason. Neither McCain nor Palin seem able to grasp the significance of the energy problem. Perhaps they are both that captive to the oil and gas lobby, clearly a favorite for Republicans. Palin likes to pretend to be one of the forces for change, but she seems simply a person caught in the web of the oil and gas enterprises that have dominated republicans, and even now threaten the entire management of the Department of the Interior. The scandals there fairly reek of crony capitalism of the kind pursued with such vigor by VEEP Cheney.
Whether our concerned voters will see a fresh breeze blow through the land is too soon to tell, but their enthusiasm was refreshing to see.