Making choices

In 2016 my final pass% for the choices in the election was 30%.

This year was better. Have been tracking my voting choices. While this post might end up attracting a bunch of more telemarketers before the next election, want you all to see how tricky it can be for many voting choices, given the Marketing machinery that goes behind every one of these measures and propositions.

To say elections are messy in the US is an understatement! 

My 2020 Election Report card : 

Pass/ Fail: 12 pass, 10 fail, 1 Meh. That is >50%. Better than 2016! 

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✅ means got it right..❌ means the choice has lost or is almost gone.

My vote:
President?VP - Biden/Harris - ✅

Voted for Sanders in the Primary. Had nothing against Biden and thought the choice of Kamala was interesting. I love Kamala as she has more balls than most of the old goats in the senate. It was sickening to see so many of my racist Indian friends (yes, you can have friends who have views different than yours) who suddenly attached themselves to her after she became the VP choice, but will take it.  

Unlike my meh vote for Hillary, voted for this Biden/Harris ticket whole heartedly.

My original thought during the primary was that the US ship had moved too far to the right and was about to topple.. to bring it back to center, you might need to try and pull it too far to the left or it might still end up wobbling for a long time.. Biden is a moderate. He is almost a Republican in a lot of ways, compared to Bernie. Hope a moderate choice is good enough to get the US back on track! for COVID/healthcare, social justice and the economy/Foreign policy (that was my order or priorities).

I personally want us to have a decent working relationship with China and Taiwan till we can get our own Hardware (read semiconductor, chip making in general) business up and running in the US. This was at a personal level where you are thinking just about you and your family. You can ask me "isn't every choice on your ballot, your choice, where you doing the absolute selfish thing?" and I will answer immediately "No. Politics is about "people" as a collective. This is where an individual decides a collective choice. You have to see if your selfishness is goign to backfire on you badly when making choices."

When it comes to China, saying you have to stop eating out when your stove at home isn't working is not a good strategy. Subsidising farmers and not fabs is ridiculous. If Fabs were subsidized, maybe the trade war was not called for and there would be no retalliation on Pig/soy/bourbon etc.  from China and the folks who were hit in the US getting subsidies to compensate for this retaliation. This was an elaborate chess game which in my opinion was botched and turned into a game of "whack-a-mole" by someone who knows more about chess than all the grandmasters put together. 

Not absolving China of unfair practices or asking for trouble. They made a lot of bad choices in the last three years. If China had elections, Xi would have probably lost in a landslide after COVID. But they don't, so this is China's chance to do better and get back on the right side of things. Hope the Chinese "community" is able to "capitalize" on this! 

Half this country agrees Nazi's are bad, but almost all of them seem to be anti China now?! Not good for the world. Hope this situation changes. Things will never be the same again but they can get better.

Now for the rest of the choices.

Ro - House Rep District 17 ✅ 72.9% to Ritesh 27% (Ro was a reluctant vote. Given he is young, expected his votes to align with Bernie.. but was not to be. This was my lesser of two evils vote. All those ads with Ritesh being blessed by the priests was a turn off. I am not going to vote for him because the local priests endorsed the guy. Who do you think I am? an Indian version of an Evangelical Floridian? was the thought in my head)
Ann - State senate District 15 ❌ 46% to 53.9% for Cortese
Evan low -State assembly District 28 ✅ 73.1%

Skipped it (Judge vote with only one candidate in ballot...only Kim Jong Un runs an election with one name only one name on a Ballot? No.. we do it too! ) 

Govind only - Local Community College Board-  ❌ (got only 14% of the vote)

William and sudha - Local school board ❌-  the ladies who want to shut the local schools  for where we live are leading with 38 and 27% . Sudha trails by 3000 votes and Bill is a distant 4th with only 11%. (this was the big disappointment for me on local level)

Steven and kitty -Cupertino City Council ~ Meh Top 2 win.. Only Kitty made it and is in 2nd place with a 900 vote lead. Steven in 4th place and trails by 1100 votes. The surprise is the Conspiracy theorist Charlene Lee who is in 5th place and still got 2600 votes!!  Cannot call this a win. Not sure if Kitty can do what she told me before the election without the support she needs of the 5 total members.

Bosworth, Gatto and Angela- Local Sanitary district - ✅ (all the three candidates picked are leading with 33, 24 and 24% of the vote. unlikely to change)

Propositions for CA : Only 83% of votes reported so far :

14- yes ✅ fund stem cell research 50.9% (not yet called)
15-yes ❌  Change how business property taxes are assessed. Got only 48% (not yet called)

 Not sure how this helps. It would be a good thing if Apple which practically runs Cupertino could just come up with 11M $ to stop the four local schools from closing. How can schools in Cupertino close for lack of funds? More people enrolling their kids in private schools (less PE? Grade inflation, which is a term I heard for the first time two weeks ago?) This topic needs a blog post in itself! 

16-yes ❌ End ban on affirmative action. Got only 43.5% (called)
17-yes ✅ Restore parolee vote – 58.7% (called)
18-yes ❌ Allow some 17 year olds to vote 

If they turn 18 by election, they should vote in March primaries so their candidate would be on Nov ballot). Got only 44.4% (called). This is a big big disappointment where the older generation screws the younger generation. Sorry kids. I tried?!

19-no ❌ change property tax transfer rules – 51.2% (not called yet)
20-no ✅ Increase criminal penalties and limit parole – 37.8% (called)
21-yes ❌ Allow rent control expansion – got only 40% (called)
22-no ❌ Classify gig workers as contractors - got 58.5% (called)

Read a yes vote on this as an Uber win and contractor loss as they get screwed out of benefits and voted no.Wanted to make sure Uber drivers who are risking a lot during COVID times to have healthcare.  This was the most controversially worded measure that had an intent to confuse.. Maybe Yes was the right vote?  Eventually when COVID leaves and I am on planes again and get to talk to Uber drivers enroute to SFO.. will find out the ground reality.

23-no ✅ Add regulation for kidney dialysis clinics – got only 35.9% (called)

Had to ask a doctor relative for advice on this! 

24-no ❌ Amend state data privacy law – got 55.9% (called). 

This was yet another one which was worded badly. My take is folks have voted against their own interest thanks to word play on the ballot. Have one adorable friend who is a technical writer who will hopefully take to task these folks who end up writing ballot measures with an intent to deceive and confuse the voter! 

Technical writing was weaponized in this ballot! At this rate they could write a ballot measure for mandatory castration of all male babies once they reach the age of 10 and have it pass..that was my thought after reading this!

25-no✅ End use of cash bail – got only 44.1% (called)

Measures for Local region:  Voted for keeping an existing tax or add a tax, and all three passed! 

M-yes -   ✅ pass school district parcel tax .. 73% 
S-yes -   ✅ pass parcel tax for santa clara valley water district - 75%
RR-yes - ✅ Peninsula corridor 0.125% sales tax increase - 69.6%

Don't have a problem paying Taxes as long as there is accountabilty for that tax dollars and it actually ends up doing what it is supposed to do. Seeing all the signs for "please stop our school from closing" on every street corner is making me want to push for more reform on commercial properties to pay proportional taxes which would actually benefit the local community!

Overall, happy with this pass %. Makes me feel less disconnected with the rest of the community this time compared to the last time. 

Waiting for Biden/Harris and an all star team to bring some much needed sanity. In the meantime

- Social distance

- If you can't wear a mask

- wash your hands often

- Get tested if you are sick

- Exercise regularly

- Talk to people who don't agree with you

Put yourself in other peoples shoes or make a conscious attempt to engage

Bring facts and truth back! 

Let's all work on avoiding the concept of "alternate facts" as they are just "lies". 

Possibilities - a conversation

We were talking about the election results while driving back from school, when Jr. is suddenly all moping.. 

Me : What happened now?

Jr. : Everyone in my class will get to vote in the next election except me! I am the only one who will not be 18 by Voting day in 2020. Do you know how bad that makes me feel?

Me : you will get to vote in 2022. Big deal

Jr. : Who wants their first vote to be in a midterm election? 

Me : If I were you, I would be happy to vote in any election. Reminded her of the story I had already told her about my voting experience...

Back story: The only time I got to vote in India being an Indian citizen was when I happened to come home to Chennai from Varanasi and it was election time. I went to the booth and the guy there told me "you have already voted. now disappear before something bad happens to you!". My grandpa scolded me for going to the booth alone, instead of showing some rightful indignation. That was when I was 18 (Chandrasekar was Prime Minister..it was a short lived tenure). I came to the US when I was 20 and the next time I actually voted was in 2006 as a US citizen in a midterm election and voted for Arnold Schwarzenegger! Have not missed voting since then. No one has told me that I have already voted or turned me back. I drop my mail in ballot at the Cupertino City hall a few weeks ahead of the election and can even track my vote. However I do hear that people go through things like what I went through in India, even today in the US elections in many places. 

Back to our conversation..

Jr. : Could you not have conceived me two weeks earlier? This is all your and amma's fault that I don't get to vote. 

I was suddenly silent and upset. There are people these days who schedule C-sections so their kids are born on an auspicious birth star, a certain Chinese zodiac year, before Dec 31st so they can claim a dependent on their tax return, etc. etc. ( know of all above cases).. but trying to beat the voting cutoff?! That is new!

Then I thought,  she was not a planned C-section. Her poor mom pushed and pushed all day and finally after she almost came out, she got stuck and it ended up an emergency C-section. 

Me : You were two weeks late and past your due date. Your origial due date was Deepavali, but you showed no signs of coming out. We were in the hosptal instead where your mom had to go through a baby stress test. You were under no stress. So they sent us back home. If this is anyones fault, it is your own. You should have been on time! 

I knew that was mean, but there comes a time in a mans life when he is just plain tired of being the fall guy. 

Later I tried to make up for the outburst... with some luck.

Midterms are important.. sometimes even more important than the Presidential elections.. please keep saying that people. I have other reasons to support that statement now.

As long as Jr. takes her vote seriously, I am a very happy and proud father! 

All in a day..

Conversation 1 with Little one just before bedtime

Me : please eat fast and eat more! Only then you will grow big.

LO : I want to be a "mouse kutty"! (and makes a small rat face by pouting her lips. She wants to be a baby mouse)

Me : No. be serious. you have to eat fast. tomorrow morning I want you to eat fast so that we will be on time for school.

LO : Daddy, you know something.. I am not eating because if I don't eat, then I won't become bigger.. if I don't become bigger, then I don't have to get married and go away. I want to stay with you always!

Me : !!!!!!! thinking "We have a big big problem". You can stay with me forever.. even if you get bigger and get married. You can bring your husband and make him also live with us. no problem. just start eating okay?

Conversation 2 with MIL:

MIL : What are you taking a photo of now?

Me : a peppercorn!

MIL : I cannot even see it without my glasses from here...

Me : that is the beauty of this lens. The peppercorn looks like a small pockmarked planet when I zoom into it with this lens.. totally amazing. this makes small things look big!

MIL : Do you have a lens that makes big things look small? if you do, use that and get me a new facebook profile photo!

Me : !!!!!! (hmmm.. maybe I can get another lens for this?!)

Conversation 3 with Jr. earlier this evening:

Me : so tell me what happened in school today?

Jr.: there was an election and we all got to vote on a ballot for student council leaders, sports secretary etc.

Me : this is your first time voting?

Jr.: yes. 3rd graders to 5th graders vote. But you have to be in 4th or 5th grade to stand in an election.

Me : so how did it go

Jr.: the people who were in the election had to put signs out everywhere in the school. then they held the signs and shouted "I am responsible. vote for me.." and stuff like that. it was very noisy.

Me : so do you want to stand in the election next year? You aren't exactly responsible but we have one year to get you there! why don't you be sports secretary?

Jr. : well, we have to put way too many posters everywhere

Me : I will help you with it.

Jr.: if you are sports secretary, you get to go clean all the tropies, pump up all the balls and do more work. If you are president you get to announce things in the speaker and ring the bell everyday.

Me : in other words you are saying "why work to get elected and do more work?"

Jr. : exactly. I don't see why they want to shout all day, get elected and do more work.

Me : hmmm.. right now I am not exactly sure if I should coach you on leadership skills or commend you for staying on the sidelines. we will talk about this once amma comes back home. By the way, who did you vote for.

Jr. : I heard them do all the shouting and we had to pick 4 choices out of 5 for all positions. So I picked all the girls.

Me : thinking "great, so the vote pretty much got divvied up along gender lines!"
don't you think it is unfair to just vote for them because they are girls?

Jr. : No! they are also saying they are responsible!

Me : !!!!!!!

So much for democracy. God bless America.

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Democracy

Today a very well read and knowledgeble Chinese American Colleague (I know he is a US Citizen) told me "India is going to vote today, huh?". They are saying the Beejaaaypeee is going to come back! Aren't these the guys who persecute moslems?

I took him aside and told him that I don't get to vote in India because of my US Citizenship. Got to vote for Obama and that was enough for a lifetime.

Power corrupts. Absoulute power corrups absolutely.

(Most south Indian's attribute this quote to C.N. Annadurai. Apparently it is from Lord Acton)

So no one knows if Obama will end his term or terms with his integrity intact. Still one can always "hope". He is doing things right so far and hopefully will continue to steer change the right way.

That said, it appears as though almost all my desi blog buddies are resoundinly saying that this year going to the polls is a waste of time because all their options are the same and they don't believe anyone is worthy of a vote.

Some have gone far enough to say that the only reason they would walk to the polls is to tick on "I choose not to vote" to make sure someone else doesnt exercise the vote in their name to a standing candidate.

Based on my limited knowledge of today's Indian politics ,explanation to my colleague was :

Congress = pseudo secular communism
BJP = religious socialism

If you have a way of explaining what these two parties stand for in three words or less, do let me know.

Relatives are all just shrugging their shoulders on talking about voting. Their response is "Yaarukkavadhu votu pottu dhane daa aaganum?" (we have to vote for someone right?") and they try to choose the lesser of the two evils.

Democracy is something, isn't it?

So much of this world has been changed, destroyed, remade in the last decade, all in the name of spreading democracy and hundreds of millions of people who are all part of a very large democracy get to choose between the devil and the deep blue sea.

Is democracy something worth losing so many lives across the globe, when politicians the world over seem to be poor choices?

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Our way of life

The person who came up with this concept of "our way of life" was a genius.

When a politician comes up with a statement "this threatens our way of life", everyone does not pay attention to the "our".. they think "my"!

Everyone reacts in a way as to preserve what they hold dear as values, be it ones ability to shoot and kill animals, other people, desecrate the environment, their views on marriage, life, religion, etc.

Today a vice presidential candidate is hinting that a presidential candidate is a terrorist.. and it is not a subtle hint. It is almost an accusation!

Somewhere in the middle of her accusation is a logic that,

all muslims are terrorists!

Okay, I do concede that she has had to deal a lot with "all white trash are stupid", but, but, but, ....

is this not going too far?

again, I know, I know.. how far is too far? For someone who can go a long way to "nowhere", too far is going nowhere!

Really scared about my kids future now! We have dual citizenship and both places seem to be going nowhere. Is there a country out there that has a majority of the populace that is actually not bigoted, tolerant and has some collective sense when it comes to getting things right?

Now, if there is a majority of people in this country who subscribe to the "all muslims are terrorists" theory, then there is NO hope for not just the USA but for the world, going forward. Also they have apparently redrawn the voting lines based on statistics that go down to the individual house in some areas in the country during the last eight years. It is going to be very interesting.

India : USA :: Ramadoss : Sarah Palin

Now you get the picture?

ps. Got the link to NYT article via Laks.
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