By Chuck Ring (GadaboutBlogalot ©2009 – 2010)

Quote Freely From The Article – Leave The Pseudonym Alone

Yesterday, the Central New Mexico League of Women Voters (League) conducted a forum for the candidates (Mr. Felton, Ms. Simmons and myself) in the upcoming Edgewood council election.  The event was initiated by Ms. Ellen Wymer  and over a period of at least two weeks organized in a fair and impartial manner. The League carried on in same efficient manner set by Ms. Wymer.

The questions were all germane and the answers were pertinent.  I believe all the candidates did well (including myself) and there were no bombs tossed or daggers thrown from the eyes of any candidate.  The event was a nice exercise for the candidates and the folks attending, but I doubt that  any candidate gained support that they didn’t have before the forum.  In my opinion,  based on who and what I observed, the audience members had already decided who their favorite candidate or candidates were.  With few exceptions, all audience members have attended previous Edgewood candidate forums and were there to lend support to their candidate or candidates of choice.

Altogether, the event was a small slice of American life that is repeated many times over at the beginning of each election cycle.  The fact that the event takes place over and over, fully open to all, without concern for reprisal or punishment should tell us that our system works if we work with it.

I am thankful to the other candidates, the citizens who attended, the League and Ms. Wymer for their direct participation.  I don’t know why a certain verse of a Lewis Carrol poem (The Walrus and The Carpenter) kept running through my mind at various stages of the debate … perhaps the reader can help with why, or maybe just say that I’m weird and let it rest:

“The time has come,” the Walrus said,
“To talk of many things:
Of shoes–and ships–and sealing-wax–
Of cabbages–and kings–
And why the sea is boiling hot–
And whether pigs have wings.”

(from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872)

Find Them Both, Below

The Walrus and The Carpenter