Wednesday, November 08, 2006

The Election

Obviously, I'm very happy. We have a decisive majority in the house, and we can pretty much assume we have the senate. Donald Rumsfeld has stepped down, which I take as a signal that Bush is finally going to seriously start changing course in Iraq. He won't admit that that's what he's doing, but I'm more concerned with actions than words.

I'm not fooling myself. I would love to be able to say that the American people want to roll back the tax cuts on the ruling class, raise the minimum wage, and institute universal health care, but it's obviously not the case. Nor did Republicans get tired of the gay-bashing, science-bashing, American Taliban running their party. I don't even think it's a question of conservatives upset by the fiscal irresponsibility of the Republicans. The Democrats managed to squeak by entirely on the Republicans fucking up Iraq, and the corruption in congress. And if it weren't for Mark Foley, they still probably wouldn't have taken it (I just realized last night, incidentally, that Foley was the representative for my home town district. And even with Foley's name on the ballot, the Democrat only managed to win by one percentage point. BRIMMING WITH PRIDE!). So Democrats have two years to win people over to their side. I worry about Iraq, because no matter what we do now, Iraq is going to end up a disaster. Whosever (?) plan we go with, they'll probably end up being blamed for it.

In California, I can't say I'm too surprised about Schwarzenegger winning, considering the lame-even-by-Democrat-standards campaign Angelides ran. I really think Steve Westley would have stood a ghost of a chance at least. Oh well. Since his sound defeat in the special elections, Schwarzenegger has been governing from about as far right as Bill Clinton. Republicans have picked up some more offices statewide, probably because of low Dem turnout because everyone knew that Angelides would lose. Oh well.

I was disapointed but hardly surprised by Prop 87 failing. A vote for higher gas prices just isn't going to go over in this environment, and when you have the oil companies spending a fortune against it, it's not likely to pass. I'm amazed that it was as close as it was. But there's no reason we can't still have a very progressive energy policy in this state. We're one of the bluest states in the country, and we have a governor who claims to be committed to the environment. Let's see if he can put his money where his mouth is.

Prop 90, which I think is a really dishonest bill, passed, but at least it might put a curb on abuse of Eminent Domain, an important issue which Democrats really ought to take a more active role in addressing, since it embodies all the worst nightmares conservatives have about liberal government.

Maybe the most encouraging news comes from Arizona, where an anti-gay marriage initiative failed to be passed! It's sad that that has to be a sign of progress, but I guess this is a long view game. The anti-gay crowd is really on the wrong side of history: in 20 years, not only will gay marriage be a universally-accepted legal institution, but people will look at the people who were against it the same way they look at the segregationists. I can't believe these people never learn any lessons.

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