Election Thoughts

A random assortment of points about the election:

1. I don't feel nearly as bad as I did in 2004. Perhaps that is partly because I've seen over the last 10 years how quickly political fortunes change. Just because you're down doesn't mean you'll be down in two years.

I think the larger source of my salve, however, is that, while I disagree with them wholeheartedly, the voting populace could at least make a case against Democrats. This is much better than in 2004 when just about every possible conceivable shred of evidence showed that Republicans were screwing things up, and the voting public re-elected them anyway. That year, I was really despondent about who was voting. This year, I disagree with those who voted Republican, but at least I can rationalize that many of those votes were really votes against the state of the country.

2. Get out the vote campaigns should really be amended to place more emphasis on getting educated before you go vote. I received several messages this year about how important it is to make my voice heard, but none about how important it is for me to know what I'm talking about before a I cast a ballot. It's as though the voting itself is the goal. It isn't. Making political choices about how you want your country, state, county, or city run is the goal. If you don't know about any of the things you're voting on, you can't do yourself any good, and your vote is really more of a detriment to democracy.

3. Republicans have control of the House. Democrats have control of the Senate. DOes this allow Republicans to pass legislation in the House, continue to obstruct in the Senate, and blame Democrats for not being able to accomplish anything in the Senate? I'm afraid so, but we'll see.

4. Missouri is really no different from Kansas at this point. The bellweather days seem to be gone.