Eat before you vote!
David Feela - 10/24/2024Grocery shopping should not be done on an empty stomach. Too many shoppers end up buying not only extra food but lean a little heavily on junk food. An effectiviology.com survey claims this strategy makes good sense, though it may not hold true for some overweight shoppers, who tend to buy less if they shop hungry, their hunger possibly reminding them that they are dieting. Still, keep in mind, it’s only a study searching for a fact.
Is it also possible that angry voters going to the polls, full to the gills with the vitriol rhetoric they’ve been served, may end up choosing more candidates that are also full of it? I, too, am speculating here. Before President Biden announced he would not run in the 2024 election, the Pew Research Center poll found 61% of Biden supporters said they would be angry if Trump won, while 37% of Trump supporters said they would be angry if Biden wons. Clearly, nothing is conclusive until the fat lady sings, but just to be on the safe side, eat before you vote.
I’m no sociologist or political scientist. I rely on what I know best. I am what I eat. Many times in my life, I’ve sought comfort food, which is not necessarily the most healthy. If I start conjuring memories of the warm cinnamon sticky buns my mom pulled from the oven when I was a child, I begin to feel, as Kitchen.com writes, “that everything will be okay, even if it’s not.”
I admit to craving pizza, breakfast, lunch or dinner, but that doesn’t mean I’d vote for Mussolini, just that I’m leaning rather heavily toward hot and spicy. A less toxic memory from my childhood is chicken noodle soup or cherry Jell-o with fruit cocktail mixed in – comforts that have served me into adulthood. They always reassure me when I feel queasy, even while filling out an election ballot or considering an unconscious write-in of my late mother, a vote that Freud would have something to say about.
Diverse as our country’s population is, we still qualify as a collective. My wife’s granny, Ukrainian by birth, favored a fresh slice of rye bread slathered with goose grease and topped with a thick slice of raw onion. I would never eat that, but I’m here to report her comforts did not poison me or anyone else’s blood.
It’s also like heartburn – a comfortable contradiction – that agitation can lead to a better, more reassured nation. Politicians from all parties have depended on keeping loyal voters by finding new ways to make them angry. A VOA news headline claims that “Anger Can Be Good for Political Campaigns but Bad for Democracy.” It argues that as a motivator, anger can rile up the base and get them to the polls, which is one more reason we should applaud Colorado’s safe and secure mail-in ballot option.
According to The Coloradoan, registered voters have been receiving mail-in ballots since 2013. And even before that, about 70% of state voters had already opted to be placed on a “permanent mail ballot” list maintained by the state. We vote without waiting in long lines and hopefully stay calm even as election deniers plot to intimidate those who vote in person.
Even better, I can make my own snack before filling in the bubbles. Too much political drama makes me feel unsteady.
Democracy as a sustainable form of government depends on a level of peace and an ability to consider diverse ideas, negotiate and compromise. We need a bipartisan willingness to sit together, pass around a box of chocolate donuts or maybe an armada of creampuffs. I’ve noticed that wherever people gather to share ideas, the food arrives before any discussion begins, and I like that. It makes me feel calmer.
An assistant professor of political science at Indiana University, Stephen Webster, says he doesn’t see a way for Americans to break free of this anger trap as long as politicians continue to actively rile up their supporters and voters remain receptive to rage-filled messaging.
A steady diet of this kind of political content won’t allow the brain to digest information properly. It’s precooked to create a kind of mental dyspepsia, which includes a burning sensation in the head that – at least for me – gets worse when I’m lying down, trying to fall sleep.
So if you’re feeling crummy about voting, don’t do it on an empty stomach. Comfort food will make you feel better, even if you’re just sitting at the kitchen table filling out a mail-in ballot. Go ahead, neutralize that rage. Have a slice of calm, a scoop of unperturbed, an unflustered a la mode, or if you must, just one bite of a raw onion. I like the flavor of waking up in the morning knowing that democracy is still on the table.
– David Feela
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