Electile Dysfunction

So much for the theory that the polls would under-represent Hispanics. So much for under-representing young people who don't have traditional land phone lines. So much for marijuana ballot initiatives making any sort of difference. The polls had actually OVERESTIMATED Democratic prospects.

The Democrats were soundly humiliated tonight. They lost every close Senate race except for New Hampshire and Virginia, and those were defensive races for Democrat incumbents. The Reps effectively won a landslide. These are the same Reps that have stalled every progressive policy for four years, forced the government into shutdown, and caused the ratings agencies to downgrade the credit worthiness of the country. Those people won tonight, and they won big.

My working theory of the moment is that Democrats like to complain more than they like to vote. Reps complain, too, but they back up their convictions at the polls. If the Dems had turned out in force in battleground states, the results would have been different. If you don't vote, don't complain.

For the next two years, no meaningful firearm safety legislation will be passed. More family planning clinics will close. The fossil fuel industries will get more tax breaks. Immigration reform will be left to rot in the fields. Environmental protection and alternative energy will be forgotten and unfunded. Net neutrality is in serious jeopardy. Banking and finance reforms will be rolled back. The Affordable Care Act probably will be crippled financially. President Obama's nominees will continue to be blocked, and the President himself has a good chance not only of being impeached, but actually removed from office by the new Senate.

The United States is moving in the wrong direction, wrong for today and wrong for history. Our country is a shell of what it could be, because progressives didn't care enough to vote in large enough numbers. That's the sad and bitter truth. 

Copyright © 2014 Daniel R. South 

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