On Tuesday, April 2, I voted in the Presidential primary. In New York State, we have a closed system. Democrats and Republicans can only participate in their respective party primaries. Those in other parties or not enrolled in a party, often called independents, cannot vote in either of those parties’ primaries.
In many other states, it’s advantageous to be independent, but in my state, one wants to be a Democrat or Republican because there are more chances to vote. And I ALWAYS vote, in large part because people have long denied the franchise. I feel an obligation to my ancestors.
I am a registered Democrat. My ballot had three choices: incumbent Joe Biden, Marianne Williamson, and Rep. Dean Phillips (MN). I voted for Phillips, whose “adoptive paternal grandmother Pauline Phillips was the author of the advice column ‘Dear Abby,’ under the pen name Abigail Van Buren.” After Super Tuesday, he dropped out of the race on March 6, though his site was still up as of April 3. Biden became the presumptive nominee by March 13.
Phillips’ fundamental pitch was that Biden was acceptable, but we needed a younger guy – Phillips was born in 1969 – and he unsuccessfully urged others to get into the fray. I agreed with him about this. Neither Phillips nor Williamson had delegates to vote for; I voted for one of Biden’s.
Strategic voting
Much has been made of Democrats voting with blank ballots. In New York, it’s much the same as what happened in Michigan, Minnesota, and elsewhere over the administration’s policies in the Israel/Gaza war.
Is this a new thing?
For decades, I’ve believed you should vote with your heart in the primary and with your head in the general election. In the 1972 primary, the first time I could vote in the Presidential race, I cast a blank ballot because Shirley Chisholm was not on the roster in my Congressional district. Then, I voted for George McGovern in the general election.
In 2020, I voted for Elizabeth Warren, although Biden was the presumptive nominee by then. Then, I voted for Biden in the general election.
Polling
I don’t make political predictions; I’m not good at them. (I had Arthur attempt some back in December 2023.) The pundits muse about what the protest vote in the spring will mean in November. I have no idea.
Increasingly, I don’t think “they” know either. James Rosen, a former political reporter for McClatchy, wrote in the Boston Globe about why polling is so often wrong.
“The problems with political polls are multiple:
- The dominance of cell phones and caller ID programs on landlines has made what statisticians call the “response rate” plummet.
- There are too many political pollsters conducting too many polls.
- The internet, with its voracious appetite and greatly expanded space for new information, no matter how incremental, has made some political journalists less discriminating and fueled more questionable polling.”
Pick and choose
Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the Catholic archbishop of Washington, D.C., said in an interview on CBS News’ Face The Nation that Biden is a “cafeteria Catholic” who “picks and chooses” which parts of Catholicism he will adhere to. Gregory was speaking specifically about abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, which Biden has championed.
I’ve read that for decades, the vast majority of U.S. Catholics believe using artificial birth control is moral, despite church teaching to the contrary. My old denomination, the United Methodist Church, has ruptured “over issues of sexuality and authority.” In my experience, many people of faith create their own theology, to quote an old Unitarian friend.
Meanwhile, the Great Trumpkin – a term used by the Boston Globe -claims that Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024, will be “Christian Visibility Day.” Apparently, he believes selling a $59.95 Bible is a qualifying event.
Or, as many Christians believe, “It is a bankrupt Christianity that sees a demagogue co-opting our faith and even our holy scriptures for the sake of his own pursuit of power and praise him for it rather than insist that we refuse to allow our sacred faith and scriptures to become a mouthpiece for an empire,” said Rev. Benjamin Cremer on X.
There’s a column in the Los Angeles Times, probably behind a paywall: I spent 24 hours on Trump’s Truth Social. No wonder it’s tanking. “The Truth Social feed I experienced was a mix of swaggering gun talk, typo-filled Bible scripture, violent Biden bashing, nonsensical conspiracy theories, and more misguided memes about Jan. 6 ‘hostages,’ trans satanists, and murderous migrants than anyone should be subjected to in one day. Or ever.”
Before I get into 
The #1 hits of 1934 were far less robust than five years earlier. But it wasn’t all bleak.
There was a solar eclipse in 2017. I did not see it, as its path was too far away. It crossed the United States from near Portland, OR, to Kansas City, MO, to Charleston, SC. Nashville, TN, was probably the nearest place to me.
I had gotten the proper eyewear on March 2. They arrived during my hearts party, and I put the box aside. Three weeks later, I couldn’t find it, so I ordered more and accidentally had them sent to my sister in North Carolina, who has no use for them. Finally, I’m set for this. 
I am doing a new thing. Having credits on Audible, I’m listening to the new book, King: A Life, about the late Martin Luther King, Jr. I haven’t gotten very far in it as it runs nearly 24 hours, or over 550 pages, excluding copious notes.