Opinion/Streetalk

ThIs ModErn World by tom tomorrow

A system that repulses

There probably weren’t that many people who noticed, but last week the two-week period for filing for public office closed. We now know whose names will appear on our primary election ballots this year. We also probably know who the candidates for president will be.

So, it’s begun again. It’s truly amazing that so many good people still are willing to get into these races and run for office, given what a snake pit politics has become. Even the Nevada Legislature, which for many years avoided the kind of polarization Congress experiences, is now deep into it.

Of course, when we say many good people are willing to run, that’s doesn’t account for all the candidates. Some people get into these races to make trouble, commit mischief and subject the public to their ideological warfare.

Then there is the arrogant journalism. For this, we need look no further than the Reno Gazette Journal’s demonization of the Washoe County School Board. The newspaper went into full attack mode before finding out all the facts about the advice the board received from its attorney on open meetings. The message to folks in the community was clear—even school boards are not safe from shallow, malicious news coverage.

Jennifer Lawless, coauthor of Running from Office, says a survey shows nine out of 10 young people

want nothing to do with running for office. And there are plenty of people at other ages who have no interest in it, either. The result is that those who do run for office aren’t always the ones we might want. Who runs? “The kind of people who are currently in office,” Lawless told Time. “People that actually do not think that government is a way to bring about positive change, people who are more interested in their own power than public policy, people that are antagonistic and confrontational and value partisanship over output.” But it doesn’t stop with running How can we have for office. It is becoming more and confidence in more difficult to make the case that citizens have a duty to vote. Why elections? should they? The system is now so in the grip of money and power that individual votes are like slips of paper in a whirlwind in their impact. Our politicians bewail low turnout but also behave in ways that drive people from the polls. In other nations citizens withhold their votes to protest corruption or dictatorship. We’ve heard about how U.S. House members must raise thousand of dollars every week they are in office to have any chance at reelection. A system so wringing wet in money is not one that commands confidence, and staying away from the polls in protest is as legitimate a choice as any. Ω

Tell me about your favorite concert experience

Asked at Ceol Irish Pub, 538 S. Virginia St.

Sal Vatore

Bartender It was probably the Attics in 2008, very active band—getting off the stage, being in the crowd, lots of aesthetics, enormous beach balls, confetti, toilet paper.

Holly Plummer

Bus driver It was Dio. We were 16 years old. Basically, it was the first show that we ever got back stage. My friend, Tim, knew Max Volume, and he got us all backstage. I was 16-years-old, and it was pretty cool meeting—at the time—your idols. I didn’t get home till 3 a.m. … I was grounded for a month, and it was worth every minute.

Michelle Hancock

Insurance agent I think it would have to be my first concert ever—Matchbox Twenty at the GSR, which was not the GSR, I believe it was the Hilton, when they had their outdoor amphitheater. I was 14, freshman year of high school. It was amazing. I think it was the first time—I’m not sure you can publish this—I think it was the first time that I ever smelled weed.

Casey Coyne

Interface engineer Old Crow Medicine Show at the Crystal Bay Club. It was a small, intimate show, and it got rowdy, so it was fun. It was a fun, fun show. It’s Old Crow.

Sushil Louis

Educator It was going to the Who with my son at the Reno Events Center. We’ve both loved the Who since we were both very young.