https://www.cityofsmoke.com New York in History and Anecdote Fri, 25 Dec 2015 01:05:42 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.2 https://www.cityofsmoke.com/archives/256 Sat, 17 Jan 2015 06:15:38 +0000 http://www.cityofsmoke.com/?p=256 Elections are dull because politicians are. They can't help it: only safe, conventional men and women with bland, plausible personalities can raise the kind of money required to pay for television commercials and bulk mailings. Authentic old-fashioned elections---those orgies of repeating, ballot-box stuffing, and election day riots with their torch-lit parades and bonfires, their bunting and barbecues---have vanished from the land. ]]>