A Tuesday In July

by Dick Mac

Here we are on a Tuesday in July. Tuesday is an important day in the United States, as it is the day of the week we generally hold elections.

Holding elections on a Tuesday ensures that you will minimize the number of voters, because it is a day of work/school, so it is a most inconvenient day on which to schedule the single-most important citizen function of a government structured on democratic principles.

Sensibly, we should hold elections over the course of a weekend: noontime Friday through noontime on Sunday. This way you are allow people to work, worship, and party, and still find time to vote.

The cynic in me believes that the ruling class doesn't really want people to vote, even though they want the government to funnel lots of money into elections. If only the privileged voted, then there would be fewer messy situations like public discourse, anti-discrimination laws, and debates over funding the public good.

Fortunately, enough people actually participate in elections (though the number dwindles as television viewing increases) so that we can pretend we have multiple parties representing multiple points of views.

One of these instances is the election of the junior senator from Minnesota.

Eight months ago an election was held, and six months ago a winner, Al Franken, was declared. The loser, Norm Coleman, refused to concede until the Minnesota Supreme Court reiterated that the counting of the ballots proved he lost the race, by a very slim margin.

The United States Senate has been operating with 99 Senators, and today, Tuesday, July 7, 2009, Franken will be sworn-in as the 100th Senator.

It took a while, but we now have a full Senate.

Congratulations, Mr. Franken. Minnesota has sent some remarkable men to Congress (Norm Coleman was never one of them), so let's see if you can make a difference.

Post edited to fix error in title.