Not that I haven't had anything to say, but nothing new to say, especially in a country that has decided to do a time warp on political issues that make me cry when I think about how regressive we've become. I say regressive in the hopeful mindset of believing that we had actually progressed beyond the debate on abortion. I know we are working our way through this homosexuality concern that some have described as America's contribution to the apocalypse, but nothing, and I sincerely mean nothing, makes me more sad than the idea that we would discourage any person from voting in America.
Several weeks ago, when my sadness reached its precipice, Ohioan's were learning that they would not have the additional week or the extra time after work to cast their votes since a ruling had been approved to close the ballots by 6pm in Ohio, a state notorious for congestion at the polls. The rise in the use of mail ballots is working to eliminate those who would care to curtail the vote, but Georgia mysteriously lost over 50,000 registrations that were pulled due to "discrepancies".
Gerrymandering (re-drawing voting districts) used to be the only certain method that was being used to distort the environment of political competition (and both parties play that game), so learning about voter suppression left me perplexed about the America I was taught in the school books that we read.
I'll admit even more. I was a lazy student that didn't always pay attention (especially in algebra) so I could have missed something in History class regarding federal voting laws. Who knew that voter suppression efforts never actually died but sat patiently waiting for statutes of limitations to run out and were thus being thwarted by ongoing federal counter measures. I know that we've been told that voting matters, but I never quite realized that our actual right to vote would, once again, be at stake.
Regressive behavior towards human sexuality is sad, and rehashed abortion debates are odd, but voter suppression is infuriating to me in a way that I can not actually put into words; partially because there is little to be said about the preservation behaviors of people with power, but mostly because nobody gives a damn about voting anyway. To argue for the right to vote is to argue for millions who have no clue what they are being asked to participate in. Some of those people are young folks who simply don't care to stop and listen to a bunch of blow hards tell you why the other blow hard sucks more than they do....so vote for me; but some of those folks are old timers who realize that the guy you vote for today might close a bridge in retribution tomorrow.
Its simply depressing to watch 85% of Ireland participate in their monumental election (in which they voted to remain a part of the UK), but it only served as a reminder of how sad I already had become, and why I deserved to be even sadder if I wanted. I could have written some eloquent argument for the necessity of voting, or an even better one for the depravity of suppressing democracy, but I would have been arguing on behalf of no one and towards the ear of the wind. Those who might have read it (or will read this) already vote, and those who do not care have a litany of legitimate reasons that even I can no longer challenge.
I have always been politically engaged, but my children have never been forced to do the same. Some of them have found their way into political action while others will ask me who is who and what do they stand for? When I am truly challenged to deliver on that loaded question, I realize that I am ill-equipped to tell them what any person we send to congress stands for. I can tell you what the party they claim stands for, but whether or not that person you waste time going to the polls to elect will do the job that you elect them to do is now totally a wait and see proposition.
Republicans who seem enthused with the outcomes of yesterdays elections should remember that this type of wave was as predictable this time around as it will be in two years when loads of Republican seats come under the same "every two year" heat that history has always placed on members of congress. The fact that it took so much Koch for republicans to keep history from taking a dramatic u-turn is a bigger story to those who understand the dynamics of mid-term elections. Moreover, politicians often fail to realize that a political wave mandate washes away the excuses against doing the job you were hired to perform.
President Obama, who is just as conservative as the congressional republicans that won during yesterdays wave election, just spilled some drool on his tan suit coat at the notion of getting those bleeding heart liberals out of his way so that he can finish the TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) that he started some time ago. He will have to give in on the pipeline deal, but he has only been using that as a negotiating tool in the first place. His aversion to expanding the Alaskan pipeline has always been the political detriment that it would cause within his own party, but lame ducks that don't even get to quack for prospective democrats during mid-term elections no longer need to uphold an allegiance, even to those he shares a party label with.
In an odd twist of irony, Mitch McConnell survived a hearty challenge against his long held congressional seat and will now become the majority leader in the house. The man who declared his plan to make Obama a one-term president will now have to resist the urge to repeal Obama's signature healthcare law and/or impeach the bum altogether. Such efforts will shut down the progress that could, and should be made over the next two years, especially if republicans hope to minimize the damage from the 2016 tsunami headed their way.
Republican committee chairperson Reince Preibus seemed to believe that their ground game did what their ground game was supposed to do. He even went as far as to credit former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs (now an MSNBC analyst) for the ground attack that he, and the Obama campaign team, turned into a model for political guerilla marketing. Before Preibus gets too excited, he should compare yesterdays turnout to that of the past elections and he might just save those Koch cats a lot of loot in 2016.
People who don't know or didn't care still don't know or care. Some people care but stay home because they got locked up once and no longer deserve a voice. We are happy to tax them just like we tax everybody else, but any former felon who runs a business does not get to impact who represents them in congress. The felons that we reject from voting are probably the only ones who have a legitimate opinion on all of those judges that nobody has a clue about, one way or the other, yet every two years even active voters are asked to decide which judge keeps a job or not?
When my daughter, who doesn't vote in odd elections, explained that she doesn't care to make a mistake with an uneducated selection, I immediately reminded myself of all of those judges that I never have the time to research individually. If I can give myself a pass for not doing my due diligence regarding that civic duty, why beat up people who have no clue about which congressman to choose when the only impression they ever get is the negative attack ads that are used to garner votes? Was Mark Udall really against the pipeline expansion or was he simply supporting the president who had chosen to make it into a political pawn? Did Cory Gardner really want to lock up people who have abortions? If not, why did Colorado have a bill that tried to do such a thing?
It all came to a destructive head for me when I had to accept that nobody (or at least half of the American electorate) really cares about voting like that, and those who care have a millions reasons why they could stop caring at the drop of a hat. We are jaded by the whole thing and nothing to date has given us a reason to believe that anything will get better, except one thing.
Hickenlooper won.
Of all of the things that happened last night, nearly all could have been predicted. A few races had some questionable polls, but Vegas odds would have leaned towards the exact results that we all woke up to see. The pundits figured that the overdose of Koch would leave everyone wide awake last night waiting on results that the Koch machine was designed to force into the favor of republicans. When it was all said and done, the only seat that got sticky from Koch was John Hickenloopers governor seat. By winning the republican senatorial seat back from democrats, republicans in Colorado accomplished something that has been 12 years in the waiting. Such a feat had to give them high hopes as 80% of the precincts had been counted and their guy, Bob Beauprez, had a 48% to 47% lead.As it turned out, those final 20% were mostly Hicklenloopers peeps who didn't need to get to know who he was nor figure out what he stands for. John Hickenlooper is the guy who, in 2014, still refuses to run attack ads. His opponent used that as an opportunity to attack him with impunity. They even attacked him for not attacking, but quickly changed that line of attack as it sounded kind of tacky every time the ad ran on television or radio. Sitting and watching republicans win all over the country and realizing that my guy, the last politician with integrity, had to fight for his political life, was about to be the final straw on the weight of depression I've been feeling towards this country where no one seems to care anymore.
And then I woke up to the announcement that Hickenlooper had come from behind to win the Colorado governorship. Without being negative or focusing on anything but his own agenda for our state, Hickenlooper defied the pundits and pulled me out of my depression all at the same time. Democrat voting patterns were predictably dismal, but if 20% of votes came in for Hickenlooper late in the night, why didn't those votes help Udall much?
The great takeaway is that the voice of the people will always be heard in the end. Passing any federal legislation over the next two years will demand bi-partisan efforts and the acceptance that president Obama will walk away with the credit for whatever positive ideas we enact under his leadership. After the pipeline moves forward, the immigration/minimum wage/marriage equality/ felon reinstatement issues carry massive support nationwide while expanded abortion restrictions do not. More than anything, WE still value, reward and come out to support integrity.
I had grown so disillusioned with the lack of voting (that keeps allowing suppression measures) that I forgot to remember that not voting is a vote of another kind. It is not our job to figure out which judge deserves to keep their job, its their job to not give cause to vote them out. Every statistical analysis of post election results says that there should be a new governor in Colorado, but elections are not as haphazard as our low turnout makes it feel at times. People respond to the things that matter to them, and while right to lifers might have thought they could take advantage of low democrat turnout patterns to try and criminalize abortion in Colorado, the measure failed resoundingly and Hickenlooper survived their best punch.
I know that Colorado is God's country so I shouldn't need another reason to love the state that I live. Just when I was about to wash my hands of apathetic citizens, I was reminded to never mistake tired for lazy.
Way to go Colorado. You make me proud.
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