A Gaggle of Politicians
I've been seeing from the news on internet that almost two years before the actual elections, some people have already declared their intentions to run for President of the United States. That is a little too extreme. The time will come when the day after the elections hopefuls will declare themselves candidates for the next elections, four years hence. In Spain, by law, no one can campaign until two weeks before each election. That is the other extreme. In two weeks you can't learn enough to cast an informed vote.
On May 24th the local elections are going to be held in all of Spain. So last night at midnight they put up the publicity on all types of billboards. So now voters have two weeks to see who the candidates are and what their parties are promising. That doesn't mean they haven't been talking about the elections right and left. They have. But now is when they get down to their campaign promises. And the free air time on television with maybe fifteen minutes straight of political poetry that makes you want to run to the bathroom. Everyone says they're on the side of the working man, that they know exactly how hard it is to make a living in these difficult times. I doubt they know much about it. The typical annual income is around twenty thousand euros. Elected politicians can make thirty thousand and up. There are some mayors of large cities that earn more than the prime minister. And then there are the kickbacks that so many receive. Some come to light and make people even more cynical. Few are ever punished, even if they're discovered.
The good thing about voting here is that the law makes it easy for you. When you move you have to go to the town hall to register your residency. Automatically that makes you eligible to vote if you're over eighteen. Our daughter turned eighteen last year and she has been sent a card telling her where her polling station is on election day. If you live abroad you don't have to go to the local embassy or consulate. When I turned eighteen I was living in Boston and I was sent the ballots of the parties running for the national elections. I just had to mail back the ballot of the party I wanted to vote for. I had already become an American citizen, but since I had never renounced my Spanish citizenship in front of a Spanish legal representative I could still vote in the Spanish elections. My parents also received ballots. Now, while that is very comfortable, it can lead to massive voter fraud. Did anyone ever know that the dead could actually mail in a ballot? Well, yes, they can. Especially if they were Spanish citizens. Someone dies abroad but no one registers his death at the embassy, so they still get sent ballots. Either the family or someone who may pay them for it, sends in the appropriate ballot. Whole cemeteries have voted that way.
Will I go vote on election day? Yes, because otherwise I can't complain about the inept body sitting in the mayor's chair. Because whoever is voted in is human and when presented with temptation, most of us fall. And promises are never meant to be kept if you keep your fingers crossed when they leave your lips. Which is what most candidates do.
On May 24th the local elections are going to be held in all of Spain. So last night at midnight they put up the publicity on all types of billboards. So now voters have two weeks to see who the candidates are and what their parties are promising. That doesn't mean they haven't been talking about the elections right and left. They have. But now is when they get down to their campaign promises. And the free air time on television with maybe fifteen minutes straight of political poetry that makes you want to run to the bathroom. Everyone says they're on the side of the working man, that they know exactly how hard it is to make a living in these difficult times. I doubt they know much about it. The typical annual income is around twenty thousand euros. Elected politicians can make thirty thousand and up. There are some mayors of large cities that earn more than the prime minister. And then there are the kickbacks that so many receive. Some come to light and make people even more cynical. Few are ever punished, even if they're discovered.
The good thing about voting here is that the law makes it easy for you. When you move you have to go to the town hall to register your residency. Automatically that makes you eligible to vote if you're over eighteen. Our daughter turned eighteen last year and she has been sent a card telling her where her polling station is on election day. If you live abroad you don't have to go to the local embassy or consulate. When I turned eighteen I was living in Boston and I was sent the ballots of the parties running for the national elections. I just had to mail back the ballot of the party I wanted to vote for. I had already become an American citizen, but since I had never renounced my Spanish citizenship in front of a Spanish legal representative I could still vote in the Spanish elections. My parents also received ballots. Now, while that is very comfortable, it can lead to massive voter fraud. Did anyone ever know that the dead could actually mail in a ballot? Well, yes, they can. Especially if they were Spanish citizens. Someone dies abroad but no one registers his death at the embassy, so they still get sent ballots. Either the family or someone who may pay them for it, sends in the appropriate ballot. Whole cemeteries have voted that way.
Will I go vote on election day? Yes, because otherwise I can't complain about the inept body sitting in the mayor's chair. Because whoever is voted in is human and when presented with temptation, most of us fall. And promises are never meant to be kept if you keep your fingers crossed when they leave your lips. Which is what most candidates do.
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