Party Games

There's a game I like to play called Werewolf. It's really fun, especially if you have a lot of people. Everyone playing is a member of a village. One or more members of the village are werewolves and are trying to avoid detection and kill villagers. There are all kinds of roles you can draw in the game. There are seers who, when they wake up at "night" when everyone else has their heads down, can point to someone for the moderator to identify as a werewolf or not. There's a witch who can kill or save one person per game. There's a hunter who can kill someone if he dies, and many other roles too. During the "day" the villagers all discuss and nominate someone for death and then the whole village votes on it.

Party politics is sort of like playing Werewolf. There are various roles. At various times, one party is the hunter and the other is the hunted. I don't think party politics are all bad. I think it's ok to play with your friends. In Werewolf, no matter what side you're on, everybody at the table has a good time despite many taunts and mockings that occur. This is how smart people play.

There comes a time though when games should be put aside. When it comes down to the process of actually making laws and voting for the people who make them, it's important to pay attention to everyone at the table. Rules in games are made to keep the game under control and to make sure no one player can monopolize the game, no pun intended. Rules help to make the game fair.

In order to make laws and elect the people to make laws the game has to be fair. This means that ordinary citizens should be able to have the same access to people in government that big organizations do, especially on issues that are really important to those citizens.

I have to be really honest for a minute and say I would love nothing more than to ask Pat McCrory, "Dude, what the heck are you thinking?" But I'm already doing that by demonstrating, writing about my opinions, and participating in the usual goings on of social media politics. And all that really isn't as much about him as it is about me, my friends, and others who might want to join in that game.

My real relationship with the Governor is one of a citizen to a person who is head of the government of my state. Because of that I want to meet with him just as that. I love my family and friends and I've made new friends with people in various groups around the state. I'm very thankful for all the encouragement I get. But I don't want to represent anyone else's interests.

I want to believe the Governor wants to consider the feelings of people involved in the whole baked goods affair. I want to believe that if he considers what I feel, next time he might think about things a little differently when he sees people on the sidewalk. I also want to believe he has now read the part of the voter bill that talks about 16-17 year olds pre-registering to vote. I think maybe if we listen to each other, I can come away with a better understanding of his feelings on youth participation in democracy. This is important to me because I'm almost there.

I think we need to pause the game for a minute and get real. I'm sure the cookie monster jokes will continue and I'm sure people will continue to accuse me of being indoctrinated. I really don't care how other people see me just like I'm sure Governor McCrory isn't losing any sleep over being compared in gameplay to Marie Antoinette. We both know who we really are inside. That's how I want to talk to him and if he would rather talk to someone more important than me, that's cool too.

If you support any or all of what I've said here, which was very hard to formulate and I hope makes sense, please consider signing my petition:
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/pat-mccrory-lets-sit

It takes a village to raise a democracy.