Sagittarian Dreams: Political "decisions"

Yesterday was primary election day in Maryland. Under Maryland law, you must be registered as a Democrat (D) to vote the Democratic primary ballot and be registered as a Republican (R) to vote the Republican primary ballot. The primary election merely winnows out challengers in each party to determine the candidate who will represent that party in the general election. So there were no major election surprises in Maryland yesterday. It is true that the Sarah-Palin-endorsed candidate for Governor on the Republican primary ballot did NOT win the primary. That would have been a surprise! The more important general election will be held in November. Then, all will vote the same state ballot where all candidates from all parties will be listed, regardless of political affiliation or non-affiliation. The only caveat is that one must have registered to vote in accordance with the laws of the state where one is resident.

Prince Tyger is - in many ways - the product of a mixed marriage, but most particularly in a political sense. Big T is his mother's son but Sweet Momma H trends the other way. We love her all the same and hope that the feeling is mutual. Fortunately, even though the national press seems to promote the "crazies" to the extent that one begins to wonder whether they are the only representatives in existence, there are still reasonable people in the mainstream, regardless of political affiliation. And thank heavens for that!

As most Americans already know, each of the two major political parties in the United States has a symbol. For the Democratic party, the symbol is the donkey. For the Republican party, it is the elephant. Personally, I like both animals just fine, just as the Tyger seems to. But his parents have great fun attaching weightier consequences to his mercurial preferences in given situations. The Tyger - for the most part - is blissfully unaware of this, but it does make for some slightly humorous moments. For example, when he was much, much younger, as part of a professional photography session, this choice, while seemingly innocuous at first,

became somewhat fraught with anxiety for our Tyger,

to the extent that he gave up trying altogether! There are many who feel like this sometimes.

Now that he's older, however, he still keeps making decisions that are perceived by his parents as political "choices." For example, while he was visiting Utah with his parents, he spent some glorious moments on a merry-go-round, aka carousel. Everything was fine so long as he was mounted on one of the horses.

But the horses were just a bit higher from the ground than Prince Tyger wanted to be. So he chose a ride more to his liking. That ride happened to be a donkey - the smallest animal on the carousel. The donkey was right next to a little elephant.