While I was over at Sophia’s place today, she played me all the political messages that were on her answering machine relating to Election Day. California always has hundreds of confusing initiatives on the ballot, and frankly I’m not sure how most people even understand what they are all about.
Sophia is a registered Republican and got several messages from her party, including one "directly" from Governor Schwarzenegger himself. I received messages from the Democratic Party since I’m still registered here in Redondo Beach.
All of the messages contained no clear reason to vote one way or another other than party identification.
As we sat down to catch up on a week’s worth of "All My Children" episodes, Sophia had a sudden urge for watermelon. We took a walk to the supermarket. As we left the supermarket with our overpriced watermelon, we were stopped by a scraggly-looking guy who asked us if we wanted to sign a petition against redistricting. You show me a petition – I think it must be for a good cause. I agreed to sign it.
Sophia wasn’t as easy a customer. She asked the Scraggly Petition Guy all sorts of questions. Even after the guy gave some semi-reasonable answers, Sophia didn’t buy it. She said she didn’t believe in the petition, so she couldn’t honestly sign it.
"No problem," said the guy.
He pulled out another petition and handed it to her.
"Then maybe you’ll sign this. It’s for the opposite side."
Sophia and I glanced at each other.
"What’s going on?" I asked the petition guy. "You’re petitioning for opposite points of views at the same time? I’ve never seen this before."
"I’m not petitioning for anything," he answered. "I get paid a buck a signature by both sides. He-he-he. Sweet deal. You’re sure you don’t wanna sign?"
