You guys know me...

[Blue_In_AK]

21. Good point.

Our problem here is voter apathy. I just know -- judging from newspaper articles and comments, letters to the editor, conversations with people -- I just know that the majority of Alaskans aren't as rapacious, grasping and insanely far right as so many of the people who have been elected to office. But when people don't vote, the hypermotivated wackos on the right come out in force and get their people elected, and then everybody's pissed off at the stuff they do down in Juneau. And we can't even get to them to complain to their faces because you can't drive there and it costs too much to fly.

Democrats have been the underdogs here for quite a while, since we were taken over by the Big Oil interests and the Texas and Oklahoma transplants, bringing their Texas and Oklahoma ways. People forget that before the Pipeline, Alaska was a strong Democratic state founded on progressive ideals. The truth is, though, that the large majority of the electorate here are undeclared or nonpartisan, so it's not like the Republicans are some almighty force. The Democrats are just browbeaten. It's hard to fight the resource industries when they control your government. They're determined to extract everything they conceivably can out of this most magnificent, pristine state, and our governor and his henchmen are happy to help them along. It's very sad.