The North Idaho Front Porch (Sandpoint: utilities, boats, science)

[volosong]

This is my little election flyer handout. (Of course, there is no city named Farragut in Idaho. That's just my favorite trail riding hangout. And, my name is not Donald R. Duck. That's my default input for web sites where I don't want to give my real information. You know...donald.r.duck@disney.com ) Just a JPEG computer screen snap, so resolution is poor.

p.s. Old version. In the postscript, I changed "Whatever" to "However".

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by volosong

Politics is a dirty business and I really don't want any part of it. Getting on the city council will tie me down for the next four years.

Politics is a dirty business in part because honest people don't often run for office. So you'll be doing your bit to counter that. More of us need to step up when we can, even if it's just for mosquito district or dogcatcher.

Originally Posted by volosong

The reason I moved here will be taken away from me, (i.e., the freedom to 'take off' and explore the surrounding mountains as I desire).

But will help preserve what you moved there for, to return to once your stint is done.

PS. Good flyer. Gets the point across with minimal fuss.

[Mister Torgue]

Originally Posted by volosong

This is my little election flyer handout. (Of course, there is no city named Farragut in Idaho. That's just my favorite trail riding hangout. And, my name is not Donald R. Duck. That's my default input for web sites where I don't want to give my real information. You know...donald.r.duck@disney.com ) Just a JPEG computer screen snap, so resolution is poor.

p.s. Old version. In the postscript, I changed "Whatever" to "However".

What party are you running under? The language of your flyer almost sounds Libertarian or slightly right of center. Its a good message nonetheless. Good luck to you! And thank you for your service to the nation.

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by Mister Torgue

What party are you running under? The language of your flyer almost sounds Libertarian or slightly right of center. Its a good message nonetheless. Good luck to you! And thank you for your service to the nation.

City elections here are non-partisan.
That's probably due to the size of our cities here. City councils are usually much more concerned with local civic needs and problems than national politics, and Idaho has always been a naturally conservative state, due to the difficulties Old Mother Idaho hands us all the time.

Our liberals, conservatives and independents all tend to be on the right side of the political scale, and the conservatism here has a strong libertarian bent; we don't care all that much about what someone else's affiliations are as long as it doesn't interfere with someone else's life.

Why is it like this here?
When you are living in a state that's full of natural extremity and few people, it never pays to pick an argument over politics, as no one ever knows when they're going to need some help getting out of the trouble nature hands us all.

The guy you had an argument with yesterday might be the only one who stops to help you pull your car out of a ditch out in the middle of nowhere, and he might be the only person who's on that road all day long.

There's a hell of a lot of nowhere here. It's never more than 20 miles away from any city, all over the state. If that guy doesn't want to help you, digging the car out yourself will take a very long time.

And if you slid off the road in the middle of winter, you could freeze to death before you dug out the car.

This tends to make us all polite and reluctant to talk politics with strangers. Idahoans are famous for stopping and helping others, but for us, it's just paying it forward. Today, it's the other guy who's stuck, but tomorrow, it could be me.

It's a survival tactic as much as politeness.

Our natural extremities also tend to make us all sociable and patient. When the road blows shut in a blizzard, nothing can happen very fast, so we become patient, and when you're stuck with a group of strangers until the roads are cleared, it helps to be sociable.

You will notice folks like to chat with strangers here while waiting in line or something. Our sociability is habitual. But that never means our dispositions are always placid. Our emotions run as strong here as anywhere else.

[Mister Torgue]

Originally Posted by banjomike

City elections here are non-partisan.
That's probably due to the size of our cities here. City councils are usually much more concerned with local civic needs and problems than national politics, and Idaho has always been a naturally conservative state, due to the difficulties Old Mother Idaho hands us all the time.

Our liberals, conservatives and independents all tend to be on the right side of the political scale, and the conservatism here has a strong libertarian bent; we don't care all that much about what someone else's affiliations are as long as it doesn't interfere with someone else's life.

Why is it like this here?
When you are living in a state that's full of natural extremity and few people, it never pays to pick an argument over politics, as no one ever knows when they're going to need some help getting out of the trouble nature hands us all.

They guy you had an argument with yesterday might be the only one who stops to help you pull your car out of a ditch out in the middle of nowhere, and he might be the only person who's on that road all day long.

There's a hell of a lot of nowhere here. It's never more than 20 miles away from any city, all over the state. If that guy doesn't want to help you, digging the car out yourself will take a very long time.

And if you slid off the road in the middle of winter, you could freeze to death before you dug out the car.

This tends to make us all polite and reluctant to talk politics with strangers. Idahoans are famous for stopping and helping others, but for us, it's just paying it forward. Today, it's the other guy who's stuck, but tomorrow, it could be me.

It's a survival tactic as much as politeness.

Our natural extremities also tend to make us all sociable and patient. When the road blows shut in a blizzard, nothing can happen very fast, so we become patient, and when you're stuck with a group of strangers until the roads are cleared, it helps to be sociable.

You will notice folks like to chat with strangers here while waiting in line or something. Our sociability is habitual. But that never means our dispositions are always placid. Our emotions run as strong here as anywhere else.

Sounds like my kind of people.

[volosong]

Originally Posted by Mister Torgue

What party are you running under? The language of your flyer almost sounds Libertarian or slightly right of center...

Thank you for the kudos and well wishes. BM is correct in that city council seats are non-partisan.

Personally, I am not affiliated with any political party. Haven't been for about 25 years or so. I feel that the party that I used to identify with, as did my parents also, no longer represent my goals, wishes, desires on matters important to the present condition and future of our country. Probably the fact that I choose to spend my golden/retirement years in the Intermountain Northwest region of the U.S. is a good indication of where my political philosophies lie.

[banjomike]

100 years ago, though the elections were non-partisan, it was common a group of like-minded citizens who were all running for different local offices to form an ad-hoc party, so that they could all campaign under one banner as a group.

Some of the party names they came up with were very interesting. Some were patriotic, like "The Grand Union Party", other reflected some national affiliation, like "The Stubborn Independent Party", some were quite civic, like "The Townsmen Party", and some were just plain funny, like "The Wa-Hoo Party" or "The Main Street Jackass Party".

These parties would advertise in the local papers, would have banners and signage painted, would purchase lapel buttons and all the rest sometimes.

There were some advantages to that stuff. It was often more effective to canvas a neighborhood, hold picnics and throw parties and rallies as a group than as individuals.
With a party name like The Main St. Jackasses, the party also made itself quite well known too, especially if a member happened to be notorious. Any attention is good attention in politics, and that hasn't changed.

I think the advent of the telephone and the automobile must have caused those temporary parties to fade away. Getting attention was harder then, and took up a lot more time, and campaigning must have been very slow-motion back then.

Once the phone was common, phone calls replaced all the door-to-door work, and a car allowed that work to be done in much less time than walking took. So campaigning as an individual became easier than as one of a group.

But a lot of local color disappeared too. Some of those old local parties must have been a rollicking old high-heeled time for everyone in them. There were always a lot of local newspaper articles about how drunk and and uproarious the last local election became before it was over.

[Mister Torgue]

Originally Posted by banjomike

100 years ago, though the elections were non-partisan, it was common a group of like-minded citizens who were all running for different local offices to form an ad-hoc party, so that they could all campaign under one banner as a group.

Some of the party names they came up with were very interesting. Some were patriotic, like "The Grand Union Party", other reflected some national affiliation, like "The Stubborn Independent Party", some were quite civic, like "The Townsmen Party", and some were just plain funny, like "The Wa-Hoo Party" or "The Main Street Jackass Party".

These parties would advertise in the local papers, would have banners and signage painted, would purchase lapel buttons and all the rest sometimes.

There were some advantages to that stuff. It was often more effective to canvas a neighborhood, hold picnics and throw parties and rallies as a group than as individuals.
With a party name like The Main St. Jackasses, the party also made itself quite well known too, especially if a member happened to be notorious. Any attention is good attention in politics, and that hasn't changed.

I think the advent of the telephone and the automobile must have caused those temporary parties to fade away. Getting attention was harder then, and took up a lot more time, and campaigning must have been very slow-motion back then.

Once the phone was common, phone calls replaced all the door-to-door work, and a car allowed that work to be done in much less time than walking took. So campaigning as an individual became easier than as one of a group.

But a lot of local color disappeared too. Some of those old local parties must have been a rollicking old high-heeled time for everyone in them. There were always a lot of local newspaper articles about how drunk and and uproarious the last local election became before it was over.

That's brilliant. I love hearing about stories like this.

[mistyriver]

Now summer is really over.
Dock being ferried away for winter storage.
You can see them hauling them in the left side of the pic.

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by mistyriver

Now summer is really over.
Dock being ferried away for winter storage.
You can see them hauling them in the left side of the pic.

Yup. But the best part of the year for me is just beginning! I love Indian Summer!

So far, all we've gotten down here is just enough rain and cold to mess up the harvest. No snow yet at all.
But I think we got the hard freeze the farmers need for their spuds last night and that's good.

I liked your picture, Misty. I've never lived next to a lake, so I never knew a dock had to be stored. Goes to show how much I don't know about stuff, I guess. Can you skate the lake or go ice fishing in the winter?