Caucuses in Minnesota

We don't have a primary in Minnesota in presidential years; we have caucuses - we gather in schools and such to vote, to argue various proposals, to select delegates to party conventions, and so on.

Until last night, I had never been to one of these things, having heard tales about arguments going on until all hours of the night. This year, I learned that I could cast a vote for President and leave the building and the wrangling to others. Sounded good to me.

After dinner I set off for one of our high schools and found the parking lot filling up at a rapid rate. I found the right room, registered, and voted. Because I was tired, I decided to let democracy go forward without me and headed for the car and home.

When I got to the main road, I was startled, no, make that amazed, to see that the line of cars waiting to turn down the road to the school I had just left was about a mile long. Really!

I tuned in to the local public radio news station, and the hosts were marveling at the fact that in another Twin Cities suburb, people were tired of waiting in line, so they were abandoning their cars in the road and walking to the caucus site.

Turns out, four times as many of us went to the caucuses than have in the past. No matter what your political perspective, it's heartening to know that at times, we can make a difference. With the prologue approaching its end, we need to maintain vigilant attention to the conventions and campaign to come.

So, with apologies to Neal Postman, we need to clean and oil our crap detectors - they're going to get a lot of use between now and November.