Left Of California

What a difference a day makes.     It was startling to wake up Wednesday morning and find myself living in a state Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat described as  "Left of California".    Westneat was referring to the fact that Washington voters appear to be passing Referendum 74,  which legalizes gay marriage and Initiative 502  which legalizes marijuana for adult recreational use.  One of the disadvantages of Washington's vote by mail system is that it sometimes takes longer to get the results.   Since ballots must be accepted and counted if they are post-marked by election day,   most Washington counties will continue counting ballots for I believe up to 14 days before they must submit their results to the secretary of state.   As of Wednesday evening both the marriage and marijuana measures are leading.   The marriage measure is still considered too close to call,   but the marijuana question is projected to win by the newspapers which endorsed it.  (Which is to say most of the major daily newspapers in this state.)   Informed observes expect (as do I) that there will be a federal lawsuit (or perhaps a more friendly state-federal negotiation,  in that marijuana remains illegal under federal law.    (In a previous election,   California voters rejected similar measures on both of these issues.)

However ground-breaking our state's steps towards full civil rights for lesbian and gay citizens and what may hopefully at least be a beginning of a conversation on drug policy reform--  an issue which has never gained any traction despite decades of activism by organizations like NORML,  one thought that struck me while reviewing results from around the country is that while big money has been completely let lose in this election,  big money did not always win.    Connecticut Republican Linda McMahon spent over $40 million of her own fortune,  out-spending her Democratic opponent Chris Murphy by more than two to one.   Murphy easily defeated McMahon.    Likewise in Virginia's Senate contest Democrat Tim Kaine vastly out-raised his Republican opponent, George Allen who received a lot of money from outside groups.   But Kaine narrowly defeated Allen.

It does concern me that we Americans have maintained the divided government that has seen Washington largely grid-locked in recent years.   And yet on Wednesday it sounds almost as though there is a new focus on trying to work together,   seen in remarks by House Speaker John Boehner that sound a bit more conciliatory.    Although the fact that Boehner remains adamant about taxes for the wealthy leaves me to wonder whether there really is any compromise to be had.    I am frankly more glad than I can say for this long, divisive election to finally be over.   And I am trying today to see a future in which we Americans,  from our leaders in Washington all the way down to our friends and neighbors right here at home,  work together to build a better future for all of us.

So Whaddayathink?

When I started this blog,  I certainly didn't see it as a place to write responses to Washington Post columnists.    And yet here I am again.   The Washington Post is the national newspaper I read every day.   I especially like the fact that it is free on the web.   I've written before about moving on from The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times after these newspapers set up paywalls.     I was pleased last week when the New York Times temporarily disabled their paywall to provide free coverage of superstorm Sandy.   And I do occasionally read an occasional piece from the New York Times when the URL is tweeted or linked in a blog post,  either of which seem to bypass the paywall.

I almost spewed coffee on my screen this morning when I read Ed Rogers histrionic diatribe detailing his impending 'brain explosion'  due to the fact that it seems as though President Obama may be re-elected,  despite all of the various 'political dynamics'  which Rogers claim all favor McLame err Romney.    The facts that Rogers cites are in fact real  (the 2010 Republican sweep,  high unemployment) and yet readings his rant,  I find myself wondering if Rogers has been watching some campaign other than the one I have been seeing.     That Romney callously dismisses almost half of all Americans  (the forty-seven percent) was to me the most amazing public comment of the election season.

And despite whatever Mr. Rogers may think,  I assure you at least some of us in that forty-seven percent do vote.   (Our ballots have been turned in for more than a week and in this household we are most anxious for the election to be Over.)   Rogers does end his piece by proclaiming that nothing has been decided and this election is still very much up in the air.   I don't disagree with that.    And if you are a registered voter and you haven't cast your vote yet,  do it today or tomorrow.   Because come Tuesday night,   your opportunity will have passed.    No matter where you live there are almost certainly local, state and national races where you vote may count for a lot,  even in you are not a 'swing voter'  in a 'swing state',   the only voters the Presidential campaigns and all of their press junkies are slavering over.       No excuses.   Go vote.

Who's Younger Now?

I read with great interest Anya Kamenetz's Washington Post article Why young voters aren’t feeling Obama-mania this time.   I think Kamenetz makes a valid point that younger voters are not nearly as enthusiastic for Obama as they were in the election.   She attributes this to Obama's having treated them paternally (for instance it's great that they can stay on their parents insurance until age 26,  but this is clearly a stop gap which merely prolongs their dependence upon their parents.   Which from my perspective at age almost fifty is not really a bad thing.   She also points out how college costs continue to increase dramatically and the increases tend to correspond to increases in student debt.   While a great deal of attention was paid to the interest rates charged,  Kamenetz points out that the net changes to federal higher education funding granted students 6 million dollars more in benefits while costing students 20 million dollars more in costs (from the elimination of grace periods to other changes in the fee structures of student loans).   Even this non-math major can quickly note that that is a 14%  net increase for students.    She also suggests that much of the energy that went into the Obama campaign last time was spent on the Occupy Wall Street movement this time around.

I'm sure that there is some truth in all of these claims and I would not in any way attempt to refute them.   However it seems to me that Kamenetz overlooks some other things that I think are needed to have a full understanding of 'the enthusiasm gap among young voters'.    The thing is,  young voters are an ever changing group of individuals.   Today's first time young voter will some,  thirty or forty years hence,  be in the cohort of voters who have just retired.    Comparing cohorts across election cycles is a perfectly reasonable endeavor.    But I think it is important to bear in mind how age-based or generational cohorts are constantly adding and subtracting members as people are born,  grow older and at some point die.  

Any election takes place at a moment in time and what sometimes bothers me about Kamenetz's analysis was how much she personalized her theories based on her own experiences in the 2008 Obama campaign and later on Occupy Wall Street.    And I do think she is right that if Obama were to focus on the real concerns of 20-somethings in a way that is empowering rather than paternal they would stand ready to be called on to vote.    It's certainly advice that I hope someone in the Obama campaign is heeding.     I find myself very very ready for this election to be over.    I try rather hard not to talk about politics on any of my other blogs.   And I try not to promote this blog on most of my social networks,   partly since it is a very occasional thing when I feel compelled to write about political things.....that I don't ever want my other blogs and social networks to become infected with.      (I made a conscious decision on my other blogs Not to talk a lot about my politics and to try to actively gather followers who did not necessarily agree with me about Anything but were willing to respectfully discuss topics of mutual interest.    I cherish my Conservative Christian Republican virtual friends.)  

My friend Wayne,  who is a very sharp radio host and business book reviewer,  was one of several people who suggested to me,  in reply to my talk about attempting to write fiction,  that I might be better served by recognizing my talent for writing essays and concentrating on what I like to do and have a real talent for,  rather than investing a lot of time in a type of writing that I really don't seem to have much talent for.    Part of me worries a bit that this essay is a bit too personal for this political blog.    Yet it is definitely too political for my personal blog.    And what I love about the fact that we can each of us have an almost unlimited number of completely free blogs....is that there is nothing to stop anyone from posting to all the blogs they would like.    There is no real resource limit.   Which I have to say seems really cool to me  :)