Radical Jack

I suppose there are lots of reasons why some people don't vote, but the case that immediately comes to mind was a guy at the paper mill who I will call "Radical Jack".  I think I have told you this story before, but maybe I can provide more detail this time.  I might also have told you about the radicals and the big sucks but, to refresh your memory, people who argued with management and opposed them at every turn were called "radicals", while people who cooperated with management were called "big sucks".

Radical Jack was the iconic radical, not just at the papermill, but in his real life as well.  In retrospect, I suppose you could call him a self styled Anarchist.  I say "self styled" because he would never join an Anarchist organization, or any organization for that matter.  He was against most everything.  Some called him a devil's advocate because he always took the unpopular side in any argument, but I think he was as much against Satan as he was against everything else.  Jack died some time ago, and I'm sure that, wherever he went, he's still arguing with whoever is running the place.

As far as I know, Jack never voted in a government election in his whole life.  He did vote on our union contracts, always against, until the last one, which he voted for because it provided him with a better severance package than some other people.  He told us that he felt bad about that, but business is business.  He always had numerous grievances in the pipeline, many of which were never resolved because he, and others like him, had overloaded the system.  Last I heard, Jack was exploring the possibility of prosecuting those grievances with the parent company after our plant closed and our local union chapter was dissolved.

Jack said that he didn't vote because They wanted him to vote.  I suppose he got the idea that They wanted him to vote because, in those days, there was a lot of "public service" advertising trying to persuade us all to vote.  You may remember the slogan, "Vote for the party of your choice, but please vote."  For whatever reason, Jack believed that anybody who voted was a big suck, no matter who they voted for.

Funny thing about Jack was that he wasn't a bad guy, once you got to know him and were able to overlook his contentious attitude.  He was a damn good mechanic, both at work and in his real life.  He once diagnosed and fixed a problem with my pickup after two dealerships had failed to do so.  He didn't charge me anything either, said that he just did it for the challenge.  Looking back on it, I think  he believed that any mechanical malfunction was deliberately caused by Them, and fixing it was his way of sticking it to Them.  

Michigan has lots of deer seasons, some of which run concurrently.  First there are a couple of early seasons in September, one for disabled veterans and one for young hunters who must be accompanied by a non-shooting mentor.  The archery season runs from October 1 till December 31, the regular firearm season runs from November 15-30, and the muzzleloader season runs for 10 days, starting the first Friday in December.  There are also a couple of special seasons in December in certain sectors where a couple of contagious diseases have been detected among the local deer population.  Traditional Opening Day, November 15, used to be a big deal around here, people skipped school and work, and some businesses closed right down. A few bars hosted special events, with male strippers and such, for "hunting widows", but that was at night.  During the day, it was said that you could fire a cannon down Main Street and not hurt anyone.  Nowadays, with so many deer seasons, the magic has gone out of Opening Day, and I kind of miss it.