Teetering On the Edge of Chaos

One wonders how much longer the so-called “democracy” will last in Hawaii -- after the latest scandal at the elections filings, in which candidates are now allowed to be selected by one party, if they do not have a candidate validly filing for that office in the regular manner. Then, apparently, all the rules and regulations are suspended to achieve the result that one party wants.

It’s kind of hard to deal with that kind of insanity on a daily basis for too long a time, and so it is no wonder that the best and the brightest have to leave the Islands to go to bigger and better things -- leaving behind all their classmates they vowed to stick together with through the best and worst of times.

But at times, things get too far out of hand, and a shock of reality is needed to allow such organizations and individuals to “bottom out,” as happened before in the terrible slow death in paradise of the ‘90s into the new century that finally ended, ironically enough, with the climatic act of terrorism on 9/11/2001.

It was the recovery from that malaise, anxiety and uncertainty that something dramatically horrible could occur at any moment, anywhere, that put a damper on the joy and celebration of living, that eventually resulted in the excesses of too much traveling, partying and thoughtless extravagant spending as though there would never be an end.

But there always is -- as a fact of life, and how one deals with the bad as well as the good, is a testimony to the value of that society and culture. When that response is for everybody to grab the money and run before it dries up, it creates a panic in slow-motion as the newspapers record daily now -- of one institution after another failing to meet the challenges for which they were created and maintained for.

So at the Elections Office, it was not surprising to hear, that the party chairman was telling the office of elections what to do, rather than the office telling the party and its candidates what to do -- and where to draw the line between appropriate behavior and protocol, and having absolutely no idea what they are doing.

One sees it at the polling places when every election day is a helter-skelter to staff and run the polling stations -- but one would think that at the very core, somebody knew what they were doing -- and commanded that respect.