On Elections of all Ilks

To be honest I voted last week. In fact, in the five years I have been eligible to vote (and I voted each year!) I have only cast a ballot at a polling center once. All the others have been absentee. Except this year I had to buy a stamp. I considered going to the US consulate to see if they would send it for free (essentially I was paying 1.20 euro to vote which seems fundamentally undemocratic) but I thought it probably wasn't worth getting lost on my bike in the rain. And if they said no I would have looked like a cheapskate chump. Probably.
But I hope you're all out there participating in participatory democracy. Unless you can't because of a lack of US citizenship, felony charge or being stuck under a collapsed piano. Those are the only excuses that I currently accept (and the piano one requires the written testimony of the fireperson who eventually rescues you) and I'm working on the felony one (in a broad cultural/ideological way, though I'd love to do more!).
In addition to the US election, there has been all sorts of other electoral fun in the Western Hemisphere this week. Mostly fun for leftists in Nicaragua. But also nearby Panama won a seat on the Security Council. I can't really claim to have followed the Security Council elections very closely (I hardly think any of you are in a position to judge), but it seems like Panama sort of came from behind after all that Venezuela bruhaha earlier this fall. It it must be very exciting for the Panamanian delegation. Not to give the power of the UN or the Security Council undue credit, but just imagine: You're sitting in the General Assembly, pretty psyched to get to meet all these awesome diplomats, never expecting much more and then, bam! Basically you're an instant celebrity. I mean if you base your definition of celebrity on self-Lexis Nexis searching (which I imagine to be the self Googling of the diplomatic and intellectual elite).* I bet they're dreaming of the "Panamaniac" puns copy editors will get to make because of them right now.

*In the interest of full disclosure, and the general interest of this blog which is self-interest, my own Lexis search is dominated by a columnist for the Sunday Times (of London) who appears to write about shopping and an Irish romance novelist who also tops any Google searches. Also, I share a last name with the treasurer of Australia (the Stacy McGill of Down Under as I like to call him) and several articles pop up involving the past tense of "rise" (inflation, spending, growth, etc.) from that country.