Goverment* (for Government*)

A lot of people nowadays think the government is overrun with vermin, and that making the mistake of voting "just encourages them." This point of view is nothing new, however, nor is it limited to a single end of the political spectrum. People have been complaining about the "gummint" for as long as there has been one to complain about. And what better way to say that there's nobody worth voting for than to mount your very own campaign? From redoubtable third-party candidates like Ralph Nader and the early Ron Paul, to comedians and actors like Al "Stuart Smalley" Franken and Al "Grandpa Munster" Lewis, to scores of other democratic DIY-ers, such independent interlopers at least provide more color than the old "one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish" state of the union. (With apologies there to Dr. Seuss, who might well have won had he ever decided to run. In fact, the candidate shown here looks like he could be a character in Dr. Seuss's cabinet.) Goverment* got 220 votes in OhioLINK and "too many records found for your search" in WorldCat.

(Vermin Supreme, an American performance artist, anarchist, and activist known for being a satirical candidate in various local, state, and national elections, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid