It was once proclaimed, at the regionally celebrated Themeland
Amusement Park in Stockton, California, that the sparse assembly would be
“witnesses at the new birth of Spinal Tap, Mark 2.”
This post shall not mark an occasion nearly as
epoch-defining as the one heralded by David St. Hubbins on that fateful day
when his storied band was billed below a puppet show.
That said, this blog will be headed in different direction
following the General Election. Since
2014 and over the course of 300 posts (and counting), I have used this platform
to deliver a series of essays featuring my perspectives on ideas, events, and
people. I suspect that will continue,
albeit with a greater emphasis on global issues, the culture that informs and
shapes our politics, and political philosophy.
I recognize the readership numbers might dwindle, but
ultimately, I have to write for both myself and a larger cause. If I am writing quickly, to catch something that
is hot yet ephemeral, much like a match struck in a rainstorm, I am likely
performing a disservice to you and myself by not confronting larger issues.
I genuinely believed we, as a nation, would spend more time
post-9/11 discussing Serious Existential Topics pertaining to who America is
and where we are headed. I had this
foremost in mind one day in late 2003 or early 2004 when MSNBC called me to ask
if I would come up from DC to their NJ studios, on my dime, so I could spend
three or four minutes on air talking about the sartorial choices of the
Democratic presidential candidates. Not
being Mr. Blackwell, I felt a little insulted, so I declined. Then I passed on another two or three
opportunities. And they stopped calling.
Perhaps I made a mistake, career-wise. I did violate one of Gore Vidal’s rules:
“Never pass up a chance to have sex or appear on television.” I do not know Mr. Vidal’s thoughts on
combining those activities. That said, this was in the pre-Morning Joe days and
while I had a few engaging appearances in the late Clinton and early Bush 43
years (usually at or around 5:30 am-ish, hardly prime time), I knew I could be…moody…and
turn in performances that could be described, charitably, as “workmanlike.”
Writing is more forgiving as I can edit, and smooth out the
rough edges, out of sight of the audience.
This smoothing includes the words I put on the paper as well as the
utterances I might be making as I pen them.
You don’t have that option on live television. Of course, I have published far too many
first drafts…and that increases the risk of making careless mistakes. And doing so, dear reader, helps open the door
for the Chorus of Dysthymia and Anxiety to remind me of past failings. And this Chorus, like Javert, can be relentless.
So, I am hoping that my readers will notice an uptick in quality,
and that you will be entertained and/or educated (or perhaps enraged, who
knows?) by my future posts. But first,
in keeping with this blog’s tradition of providing endorsements, an homage to
so-called legacy media, here are the Spartan Considerations 2018 General
Election Candidate Endorsements.
Rather than go through each race one-by-one and point out
the merits of each endorsed candidate (most possess several commendable
qualities), I opted to go for an overarching theme.
This blog, particularly over the past 20+ months, has
covered a number of issues that touch upon social justice themes. Each of the endorsed candidates, as
demonstrated through their actions and/or declared by their platforms, show a
commitment to devising/implementing public policy solutions that advance the
cause of social justice. In their own
way and within their own spheres, these candidates would work to bring about a
fairer, more equitable society where the effective liberty of the many are
maximized to the greatest extent possible, and where promoting the common good
is valued more than furthering the narrow special interests of the powerful few.
While some embrace this progressive ethos more readily than
others, or have fewer opportunities to express it given the function of the
office they hold or seek, the following candidates receive the Spartan
Considerations Seal of Approval:
Governor/Lt.
Governor: Ben Jealous and Susan
Turnbull
Attorney General: Brian Frosh
U.S. Senator: Ben Cardin
U.S. Representative
(7th
District): Elijah
Cummings
State Senate:
(District 9): Katie
Fry Hester
State Senate
(District 12): Clarence Lam
State Senate
(District 13): Guy
Guzzone
House of Delegates
(District 9A): Steven
Bolen
Natalie
Ziegler
House of Delegates
(District 9B): Courtney
Watson
House of Delegates
(District 12): Eric Ebersole
Jessica
Feldmark
Terri
Hill
House of Delegates
(District 13): Vanessa
Atterbeary
Shane
Pendergrass
Jen
Terrasa
County Executive: Calvin Ball
County Council
(District 1): Liz
Walsh
County Council
(District 2): Opel
Jones
County Council
(District 3): Christiana
Rigby
County Council
(District 4): Deb Jung
County Council
(District 5): China
Williams
State’s Attorney: Rich Gibson
Clerk of the Circuit
Court: Wayne Robey
Register of Wills: Byron Macfarlane
Judge of the Orphans’
Court: Leslie Smith Turner
Sheriff: Marcus
Harris
Board of Education: Sabina Taj
Jen
Mallo
Robert
Wayne Miller
[Bold = I am able to vote for this individual.]
If your name is not on this list and you are a Democrat on
the ballot in Howard County this November, it most likely means that my public
support for your campaign would not help you (not that the Spartan Tendency is
an unstoppable Political Machine…except in Faulkner Ridge, of course). Or that
you don’t need my backing. Or, I still
don’t know enough about you to be comfortable endorsing you. Or you are Peter Franchot.
Yes, this was a long post.
Thank you for reading it all the way through. I will have a separate post on the proposed
Constitutional Amendments and Charter Amendment soon. And yes, I will most likely have at least one
more post where I go into a little more detail regarding the Board of Education
race.
In solidarity.
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