M and Wild Man Caucus

I have to admit that caucusing was rather anti-climatic for me. I arrived at our caucus site with Wild Man in tow, fully prepared to leave at a moments notice should Wild Man show signs a global meltdown--bedtime is a sacred thing in our household, and no one was particularly happy that our bedtime ritual was being interrupted by the "Democratic Process." But, as we were dedicated to having our voices heard, we chose to interrupt our nightly routine, and Wild Man was well behaved and obliging, if not a bit confused to be allowed to run around a church courtyard in his pajamas in the dark. Our experience was much like Supadiscomama's: we stood around outside until we were given directions from a woman who said "Democrats vote here and here, and Republicans can go where ever it is that Republicans go." I found this quite amusing, especially given the fact that there wasn't a single Republican at our precinct. Once we figured out where to line up, we joined the line, and we made it through rather quickly. We filled out the necessary paperwork and voted. It was interesting to see the process at work, but it was not particularly sexy, I have to say.

Thus, after debating the feasibility of going all day long, I did successfully caucus--at least I am fairly certain I did. I did not stay for the whole rigamarole, although I did very explicitly ask if I needed to stay to make sure my vote counted. I was assured by two people that my vote would indeed count and that I only needed to stay if I wanted to be a delegate. As I had no desire to be a delegate, I chose to take a sleepy Wild Man home. The rest of our evening was fairly normal, and Wild Man, thankfully, went to bed without incident, although it was considerably later than his normal bedtime. So ends my caucus experience.

*As as aside, I don't find the Texas Caucus remotely democratic as the time of day it takes place necessarily excludes too many people. I debated all day whether or not to go primarily because if both my husband and I wanted to caucus that meant we had to take Wild Man out with us at a time of night that is usually spent reading stories and snuggling on the couch. Disrupting such a process is risky as Wild Man is not a good sleeper. Furthermore, while in the grand scheme of things the disruption to our life was minimal, I know many people were unable to caucus because of work, class, lack of transportation, and physical issues. As Supadiscomama said, this process is bullshit. But I digress.