What if today were election day?

What if this day, this Tuesday, were election day and not next Tuesday?

Would voting be extended in the states affected by Sandy? In states where 7.5 million are without power.

Or would the electoral process just have to “suck it up”? Just the way it sucks up the disconnect between the popular vote and the electoral college vote.

And who might have benefited under the hypothetical scenario that would have laid Sandy's devastation on top of voting day? My guess is that those who typically suffer from stress and live marginally anyway would be all the more stressed and marginalized by the storm. They would be less likely to vote.

Another guess is that they would be primarily Democrats. Would Pennsylvania actually go Republican? What about New York?

I doubt the one percent would be affected at all under this scenario. But, hypothetical situations aside, Mitt Romney, who portrayed 47percent of the population as self-described victims, may now have to recalculate his estimate. The nation suddenly has a whole lot more victims, REAL victims, and is going to have to spend a lot more money helping to get them back on their feet.

My guess is that they will still be victims a week from today...on the real election day.

So is this little hypothetical worth considering? I think so. Contrary to the impression the news media give us, disasters don’t fit neatly into news cycles. They go on for months and even years. How are things in Joplin, Missouri, these days? What about Haiti?

A week from today you can bet things will be a whole lot different along the Sandy’s path of destruction, and those differences will change how people vote...if, that is, they can get to the polls to vote at all.

Mother Nature casts her vote

It’s easy to find the cause of Hurricane Sandy.

It’s two fold.

The first is global warming. This massive storm is yet one more unprecedented catastrophic climate “event” linked to global warming.

And the cause of global warming is no secret. It’s us and our complicity in a political/financial system corrupted by greed.

So much for causes.

Under the present alignment of events, a motive for this hurricane suggests itself. Yes, against all reason, I’m asking you to find a sentient motive in nature. Bear with me....

Here we are entering the last week of a presidential election campaign in which both candidates have shamelessly and blatantly ignored the issue of global warming.

The reason is clear: Both have been bought off by fear-mongering, carbon-emitting, corporate polluters.

Now, from the hyper-warm waters of the South Atlantic arises a monster hurricane that could just wreak havoc on the campaigns, the Nov. 6 election, and, one can hope, our entire corrupt political system.

Power outages, blocked roads, huge evacuations, massive flooding. Try campaigning and voting under those circumstances.

The so-called “battleground” states of New Hampshire, Virginia and Ohio could look exactly like battlegrounds in the aftermath of this mega-storm.

Moreover, like the meltdown of the financial markets four years ago, this storm could dictate end-game political events.

The president will have to go back to being presidential — whatever that means. (Who knows, he might even utter the words “global” and “warming.”)

Mitt Romney may have to cede in response to the devastation that government has a role beyond building battleships, axing taxes, cutting regulations and subsidizing the rich.
 
Okay, so Mother Nature may not have a motive for sending this storm, but we might consider that we are being punished (or are unwittingly punishing ourselves) for our collective dirty deeds.

I suggest that another vote is trumping all others in this election — the ballot  of grievances Mother Nature is now casting along the Atlantic Coast.