Apathy In Action

There is an election today in St. Louis, although you might not know it to read the local newspaper. The election is the mayoral Democratic primary, but since this is St. Louis, where the Republicans haven't been a factor since God only knows when, this is the real mayoral election. It seems to be drawing a collective yawn from the city. You have an incumbent mayor, Francis Slay, who most are predicting easy victory for (an example.)

It isn't that people are not attempting to generate some interest. A St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist has gone so far as to state that Slay, who is white, is a terrible mayor for black folks and they should vote for anyone else as long as they are also black. That should get everyone riled up, right? That's a real "call to arms", don't you think?

"No thank you," reply the populous, "We are too engrossed by the St. Louisans still alive in the American Idol contest to give a thought to who should be mayor!"

Now, this could just speak to a level of confidence in the job Slay is doing, but it couldn't be duller for those among us who are political junkies. Urban politics in these times is simply boring. By and large this seems to be true around the country as well. It was certainly true in Washington D.C. when I lived there. I think this lack of political competition in urban areas leads to a certain stagnation in the governance of cities. What would be needed is a new urban Republicanism to at least challenge Democrats and maybe make them a bit more responsive.

It's a nice idea, but I don't think it very likely. The Republicans are just too suburban oriented. So we are stuck with boring urban politics.

So who is on American Idol again?