On the Edge: Jeff Merkley Town Hall at PHS

This afternoon I went to my old high school, Phoenix (Oregon) High School, to attend a town hall event featuring Senator Jeff Merkley. There were a couple hundred people who took their time coming in until the last minute. Since it was mostly an audience made up of members of the Indivisible group, the questions were mostly Bernie Sanders-type questions about the environment, impeachment, and Trump/Mueller in general. In other words, it was mostly a crashing bore, and, suffering from sitting in the gym bleachers, I left just as the last question was asked. It almost killed me to get up.

Issues like the environment and Trump are important, but they aren't the only goddamned things in the world out there. Another big topic of discussion was the Electoral College and the compact from a number of states to promise to cast ballots in support of the winner of the most votes or whatever the hell it is. Merkley supported that.

Merkley also said he weighed his options about running for president, but he decided against it because he thought he could be more effective staying in the Senate as legislation originates and passes in the legislative branch of government, at least for the time being. If I had bothered to get a ticket to ask a question, I likely would have asked him about whether he would consider being a running mate to whoever gets the nomination, likely Joe Biden. The one question I really wanted to ask him was about his stupid backing of the Equality Act, with the ruinous "gender identity" included. However, I wanted to avoid drawing attention to myself, so I didn't bother to do it. A reporter tried to talk me into doing an interview this afternoon, but I declined. I look too shitty, especially after having gone for a run today, to do interviews.

A few pictures of the event: