Politicians Are Out Looking For Votes– Don’t Miss Your Chance!!
Election Day is fast approaching here in the USA (it’s next Tuesday, November 4th). It will be a mid-term election, coming at the halfway point of the U.S. president’s 4-year term.
Here in New Hampshire we like to pretend that election campaigns are still conducted like they were 50 years ago: smiling volunteers knock on doors and hand out flyers, candidates mingle with real people, shaking hands and kissing babies.
In truth, today’s campaigns are conducted through television advertising: candidates and the special interest groups that have an ideological or financial stake in their election spend millions of dollars on ads that trash the candidate’s opponent.
That said, candidates still make the rounds here, especially in the closing days of the campaign. Mostly it’s a chance to be seen smiling and shaking hands on the six o’clock news.
I once did a comic strip about a street musician named Busker. He believed in giving political candidates a fair shake.
Note: the above gag only makes sense if you’re familiar with an item called a joy buzzer. I never had one, but when I was a kid, I used to see them advertised in every comic book I ever bought.
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I did have a classmate that actually got a joy buzzer. They’re made cheaply now, i.e., with plastic, so I don’t think they’re concealable as they used to be, when the ring that holds the buzzer in place looked more like cosmetic jewelry. The prankster can’t actually give a “prankee” an actual electric shock– it just vibrates.
Although the sentiment is amusing, candidates don’t come to our door– not out in my current neighborhood, anyways. We did have a city politician back in the day that did go door to door, but, um, he died, in a car accident, some years back. He was a dear neighbor and friend, and as he was an administrator at our community college, a new wing of the student union building is named after him.
I miss him terribly.
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Hi, Jak! Many thanks for your comment. Everyone seems to agree on one thing: joy buzzers don’t live up to their promise. Then again, how could they?? The little ads in the comic books of yore always showed the victim being practically electrocuted– as do I, in my Busker gag. Come to think of it, real life never lives up to the promise of cartoons!! Ah, well… : )
I live in a very small town. We never see any national candidates here. We did have a state rep who used to knock on doors, handing out his own campaign literature. He’s retired now. I admired him tremendously for it, even tho it would have to be considered inefficient campaigning in this media-saturated age.
I’m sorry about your friend. It’s always good to see you.
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As a kid, I, too, wanted a joy buzzer until I saw how the joke (in an Indian context) would be on me. One namaste would jolt the kundalini right out of moi!!! 😀 Rad? Eeeek! Aaah!
The ever-present honesty in your work goes beyond your abundant talent. Talent is made great when a life lived is somehow channeled through it. You, Sir LOL, bring joy-buzz to each sketch!
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My dear ever-mirthful Radhika!! I read your comment 26 times, then did some research. Then everything clicked (zapped??), and I felt my kundalini uncoil and shoot up my spine. Now I’m sitting here, weeping helpless tears of laughter. At least I think they’re tears. Now that I’ve tapped into my “residual power of pure desire,” I can’t be entirely sure… : )
I always thought namaste was a sailboat in need of repair. But no. When I read that conveying the namaste greeting involved pressing one’s palms together, I suddenly understood what would happen if one of those palms held a joy buzzer => instant kundalini!! Hmm… that sorta thing could easily become addictive… : )
The second half of your wonderful comment will have me floating on air for days. Even better than kundalini– and that’s saying something. Thank you and namaste, dear Lady Quipster. : )
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I’ve never actually seen a joy buzzer, but it seems like the perfect way to greet many of the politicians that are out there these days!
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Amen, Margie! And the higher the voltage, the better!!
Great to see you, and thanks for your shocking and highly appropriate comment!! : )
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That was awesome. My laughing woke my dog.
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Ha! Your comment made me bust out laughing– hope I didn’t disturb your dog! I mean, he’s been thru enough already… : )
Many thanks for your visit and your good humor!!
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