20160409 (choice)

What desperate people turn to when they despair of democracy

Ahead of me at the drugstore

Counter was a smallish woman

With a cartful of stuff. Behind 

Me a line of customers formed

Who, like me, had only a single

Item. The woman, who had 

Either brought her own reuseable

Bags (or had just bought them)

Was helping the clerk ring 

Up her purchases and package

Them in the canvas (?) bags. 

As she lifted one from the 

Cart to the counter, she lamented,

“I don’t know who to vote for,”

And thereby kicked off a round

Of commentary from the line.

Personally she thought Trump too

Extreme and favored the the guy

Whose name began with a “K.”

“Kasich,” offered someone from

The back. “Yeah, that’s the one,”

She confirmed, “but, you know,

They’re all liars.” The young

Black man behind me told me,

“If they elect Sanders, he won’t

Get anything done. They’ll shoot

Him.” “They won’t have to,” 

Another responded. “He won’t

Have Congress, so nothing will 

Pass." Interestingly no other

Candidates—no Hillary, no

Cruz-- were mentioned. 

The chatting kept up and I 

Notice what the woman was

Buying: two six-packs of 

Brews in each of the three

Bags with sundries for filler. 

How was this woman to get

Her stash out of the store

Considering that the total 

Looked as large as she was? 

But with the straps high on

Her shoulders she kept the 

Heavy bags an inch above 

The floor. She wobbled slightly 

As she left. I didn’t see

Whether she took them 

To a car in the lot or bore

Them like a pack animal to

A home nearby. Did she live 

Alone? That’s a lot of beer 

For a woman weighing 100. 

She’d have saved buying 

Beer in a supermarket instead

Of a CVS. I didn't think she had 

A car though. While the talk

Continued about the campaign

I heard someone announce, “I

Think I might not vote this year

Anyway—all they seem to do is

Argue.” What a segment of the

Electorate! Not quite randomly

Selected despite this location

Being somewhat diverse—

That is, having a variety of

Poor folks. I began to see why

The authors of the Federalist

Papers had sincere doubts 

About the functioning of a 

Popular democracy—letting

Those unpropertied drunken

Illiterates have a vote that 

Counts as much as their own.

What scatterbrain might they 

Elect but one like they: poor, 

Drunk, and unlearned to take

From us to give to themselves.

Only hours before I had watched

A documentary on the rise of

German fascism wherein the

People preferred to trust in 

A single leader, whose rulings

Would be executed by every 

Level of government as the 

Dictum passed downwards,

None dissenting. They would

Be spared disorderly arguments

And things would finally get

Done.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016