veni, vedi, ... suffragi

I came, I saw, I voted.

Today was caucus night here in Minnesota. The Republican, DFL, Independence & Green parties all met across the state. My new year's resolution was to get more politically active. So, I headed out to caucus.

I figured the Cataclysmic End of the World would occur if I attended the Republican caucus. The Minnesota DFL (a.k.a. Democrats) just isn't doing it for me these days. So, between the other 2 parties, the closest one was at the library. The Hosmer Library is down the street from our house, at 4th & 36th, we're at 16th & 36th. So ... off I went to the Green Party caucus.

Yes, I only went after looking at their party platforms. Yes, they're (9/10) okay with me, as far as policy statements go. That is the policy positions I agree with, not their execution ... which is where I anticipate diverging from the majority.

e.g. suggestion @ the caucus to have a position on supporting the RNC 8 and eliminating the state's PATRIOT-ACT imitation. This is the only point I spoke up about - the two should be separated. I'm all for eliminating the law in question; I'm not so hot on the overly-general-vague statement about the RNC 8. Separate the two. The party went with my recommendation, which was nice.

I didn't participate in the discussion about which person should get the Green endorsement for the gubenatorial race, since the Greens aren't putting forward their own candidate. I have no idea who the two people in question were anyway. When the discussion got around to party platforms and positions ... well, now there I have opinions.

I had to come home and confront Mr.Gopher. "Hi, honey, I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to be out of town on May 1st. I volunteered to be a delegate to the Minnesota Green Party Convention." This is Mr. CDU Gopher (read: one of the more conservative parties in Germany, that of course, being "conservative" in a more rational sense than the Dorks here use).

I figured the Green Party would benefit from my participation and lobbying for economic reform and non-environmental positions. I might as well put the gregarious side of my personality to use for the benefit of Mankind. Well, at least the benefit of a few people here in Minnesota.

I'll have to put a more in-depth post about the ins & outs of a political convention in May.

My new year's resolution was, after all, to be more politically active.