Disenfranchisement: American Idol Edition

All day I've been wondering why here at TAA we've been so upset about last night's surprise ouster of our favorite American Idol contestant, Michael Johns. Sure, we'd downloaded all his music and enjoyed his performances, but why were we so upset and shocked that the voters (or possibly producers, if you're a conspiracy theorist) kicked him to the curb?
Then it occurred to us that it wasn't just the fact that we called an embarrassing number of times to keep him on the show. It was just the culmination of a week (really more) of supporting lost causes.
It started with the cold realization that the elected school board bill was going to be left to wither in committee, without the respect of local courtesy from the legislature. My calls didn't matter. Mary Dulaney-James (who sends her children to private school) and Chairwoman Hixson (who by the way can vote for her school board in Montgomery County) decided that we in Harford County don't get to vote for our school board. End of story.
Shortly after that realization, I received the e-mail that a concerned citizen and friend had received an answer to her query about the zoning/traffic problems in Constant Friendship. My excitement was quickly squelched when I read that all the decisions had been made for the business park in 1987 -- 21 years ago. Here at TAA we're giving away our age, but 21 years ago we were 21. We shudder to think if we had to follow any plans we'd made at 21. Case closed. Our e-mail was not answered, but we were still shot down. We were officially 0-2.
Which leads me to last night, when Ryan Seacrest turned to the camera after announcing the bottom three finalists and said, "Last year for Idol Gives Back, we decided not to send anyone home....(long long pause, Michael looked hopeful) but tonight, it's the end of the road for Michael Johns."
I know it's not the same. It's just a TV show. But Ryan Seacrest doing the bait and switch reminded me of being hopeful (elected school board passes, yes!) to angry (school board bill being held hostage in committee, what? why?) It shows a similar lack of courtesy.
Ryan Seacrest was a jerk to Michael Johns and the viewers (who booed loudly and have been flaming Seacrest on the Internet all day), but we'll be all right. The state showed discourtesy to Harford County and now Harford County has to choose not the next American Idol, but a new board president, and guess what, you don't get to vote on who it's going to be. Oh, and the committee to pick him/her has been disbanded. So they're not voting either.
There was only one real winner this week, those special interests that the school board was so "afraid" of. Call us cynical -- we'll probably be more hopeful next week. But right now we're feeling that theirs is really the only vote that matters.