Daniel Ortega and Clay Chastain
Nobody in Kansas City is talking about Daniel Ortega.
That’s something else I miss about Ireland. Nicaragua might be a lot closer to the US than it is to Ireland, and a former US President might be there observing, but nobody in the middle of America is talking about Daniel Ortega’s election.
To be fair, America has its own elections that it’s been paying attention to. And Ortega’s victory after all these years isn’t so much an amazing win, as an amazing loss - for those who voted against him.
Ortega got no more votes this time than in any of his three previous losses. But this time the majority of people, who are actually opposed to the returning Sandinista-turned-Christian, didn’t consolidate or orchestrate any effective campaign against him to force a run-off he would have lost, as usual. Democracy is so funny.
And in Kansas City, something not too different happened. Every couple of years, fruitcake and former resident, Clay Chastain, comes up with some bizarre and ridiculous scheme for light-rail or rapid transit, and every year his proposal gets voted down by the people of the area.
The one time a plan of his came closest to making any kind of sense was when the City itself weighed in behind it. This galvanized the opposition, who easily orchestrated a campaign that saw it crushed by an even bigger margin than the previous nonsensical proposal.
But this year, Chastain comes back, again, draws some funny plans, the airport, the zoo, gondolas, and everybody yawns. And so it has passed.
Less people than attend a Kansas City Chiefs game, or watched Ireland’s Gaelic footballers in Croke Park last Sunday, was all it took for 53% to win the vote to extend the three-eights cent transportation tax until 2034, which will add $945 million for an urban light rail system. Yep, democracy is so funny. I hope Iraq is ready for it.
Somebody once said to me of Kansas City, I know my city and we love our cars; we won’t ever give them up. Oh dear. Well, it’s not obligatory - yet.
And of course KC does love its motor vehicles, but any more than the people of Dallas or Phoenix?
See Also:
• Why Won’t Unionists Agree (this time)?
• Immigrants More Likely To Start A Business
• Irish Sneetches
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