Repeating the past

There were some issues with the start of primary voting in Iowa yesterday. My optimistic take on it is that this emphasizes the need for backup, like the paper ballots and photographs that they have. We learned the lesson (I hope) early and with a fairly small number of delegates at risk.

There are many issues with the primary process, and how democratic they are. Part of that is the emphasis on less representative states, like Iowa and New Hampshire. That hit me harder watching the "Pride in the Name of Love" episode of Mixed~ish. As they celebrated the first Martin Luther King Day, non-participating states were listed, and Iowa and New Hampshire were right in there.

I expected it to be Arizona, because of the Public Enemy song, but I had not understood the whole picture then. Arizona had recognized the holiday, but then a new governor backtracked, badly.

Despite Arizona not being listed, there were others. Of course Utah was one. Researching it more, the most horrifying thing may have been learning that Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi acknowledge the holiday now by pairing it with Robert E. Lee day. Yes, their birthdays were close together, but still celebrating the one feels like a contradiction.

Regardless, the primary schedule gives the earliest votes to some really white and not very progressive states. They may acknowledge the holiday now, but their foot dragging does not bode well, and closer examination at the states tends to bear that out.

Campaigning is expensive and exhausting, where having momentum makes a huge difference. Democrats started with a more diverse slate of candidates - we do way better than Republicans - but the balance of power still leans too heavily toward white people.

We run into the same issue with the electoral college. The way the votes are distributed favors slave states. It was done intentionally, and even after we have officially acknowledged that slavery is wrong the influence persists.

This is where it connects to not being rude and bringing up uncomfortable topics: slavery is barely mentioned in the constitution. They thought about it, they contorted around it, but even when they are stating that a slave counts as three-fifths of a person, it couldn't be stated in those terms. There are free persons, and they count as one. Then there are other persons. Everyone knew what it meant, why not say it?

It seems like a way of avoiding shame.

You can argue about Jefferson's influence on the constitution, but one of the most interesting things about him to me is what he endeavored to hide at Monticello. There was a tunnel underneath so you wouldn't see all the work required to create the pretty picture of bounty. There were dumbwaiters, and show gardens even though there were needed actual producing gardens. There was at least one windowless room. There was a show of magnificence, but that show was reliant on slavery and not willing to admit it.

Clearly Jefferson was not the only one with that problem.

Collectively we still seem to be unable to admit what benefits we get from racism and what motivations we have for clinging to it; that leaves a lot of room for denial about its effects. There are people who have done great work, but there are still too many pulling against progress.

The benefits they are getting are not worth the suffering that they cause.

It is past time to start doing better.