If you’re discouraged about the election results
Don’t be. You’re hearing media do what it does: harp on one person’s lack of enthusiasm and make it seem that that one opinion is held by thousands.
This race went precisely as I thought it would. Precisely.
And it was absolutely a massive success.
So let me tell you why, so that you feel better and can easily put down the annoying crowing that republicans are going to do, because they managed to cling to a few things.
If the votes fall as I believe they will, the democrats will have retaken the house by some 30 seats. This is impressive and somewhat unique in our country’s history. The GOP, upon taking the house originally, jerrimandered these districts in impressively screwball ways. Wherever that rigging has been overturned, the districts have gone blue. Which is, of course, why they did it. Democrats have the house now, 30ish flips in republican rugged districts. 15 of those being female candidates.
That is absolutely impressive.
A few key candidates to whom many people were paying close attention did not perform as people desired. Abrams, O’Rourke, Gillum. Well…I’m not surprised. Abrams faces absolute state wide fraud. Her opponent being the person also in charge of voter registration, withholding some 50k votes of which 70% were black. Voter intimidation. This is blatant corruption. And yet still…her race was very close. So too with Beto. Ted Cruz was a presidential candidate! When he took Texas, he did so with a wide margin. Last night in Texas he was fighting tooth and nail. Gillum’s goobenatorial race for Florida was a figurative dead heat. 99% of the vote in—49% Gillum, 49.7% DeSantis. These are CLASSICALLY and FULLY republican regions in which Trump took the presidency by huge margins. That these races, with all those challenges, were as close as they were PROVES that something unprecedented happened.
3-400% voter turnout increases for a midterm election. Mostly with the youth.
But let’s talk about what it means to have the house.
Now I know you’re probably concerned about the federal judgeships that are about to pop up for consideration, and it’s true that the Senate was needed to stop approvals of those candidates, but…
Control of the house means that Democrats now take hold of some critical committees. These committees are the very ones that will be overseeing corruption allegations. Ways and Means, energy and Commerce, Financial Services, Intelligence, appropriations, foreign affairs, armed services, judiciary, transportation and infrastructure, and…government reform.
How do you feel now?
The worst political fallout of a GOP controlled government, the worst sound bites that weren’t Trump’s, the worst slaps across the face? All came from footage of those very same committees. Those committees now belong to Democrats.
Massive policy shifts also occurred in many classically conservative states—legalizing marijuana votes, Florida giving the vote back to former criminals who’ve served their time thus giving the vote back to a HUGE portion of the African-American Community that has been held in check by a racist and classicist policing method, then there were upsets in many small ways too.
I promise you…this is all excellent and it will have truly important and forceful impact. In 2020, if we can keep that same enthusiasm and rage, the entire government will shift. But that can only happen if we keep moving forward, if the candidates who won keep their noses to the grindstone and push back hard, if you and I and everyone on the ground continues to talk about this and force out bigots and greed.
Do not be discouraged. I promise you…this was an amazing election. Don’t focus on a few bright stars and think that all is lost because they fell. There is a great deal happening here, and one thing I know from being at sea—when a wave is building, there is first a terrifying shift, as the water level begins to rise. The ship will first dip, surrounded by walls of water, and then of a sudden, the swell. The ship raises and passengers suddenly realize that they are much higher than before, with an incredible view. Then the wave crests and takes the ship with it.
We didn’t see a wave crest tonight. So what? That means it’s a much larger wave than we realized. It will crest in the future. But only if that fluid pressure is maintained.
This is good. It is. So long as everyone keeps working. This is good.
Calm down. Have a glass of champagne. A cup of tea. When they Trumpet all their noise…say nothing. Nothing needs to be said. You’re higher than you were with an excellent view of the ending. So relax. Don’t fret.
Everytime I read the news I feel like one of the lions from the Lion King after Mufasa dies. We are all listening to Scar declare himself King and watching as he invites the hyenas into the pride lands.
Mike Pence at Hamilton
News flash to anyone who follows liberal media: electroshock conversion therapy hasn’t been used since the 50s. Conversion therapy today just means TALKING TO A THERAPIST. And in any case, it’s not going to work (even if the patient complies), so don’t get your panties in a bunch.
To the people still rioting in the streets over the election results: you do realize you’re doing the exact opposite of uniting our country, right?
We sucked it up and let Obama be president for four more years, and you can’t grow up and give Trump a chance?
Mike Pence wanted to see a musical. That’s all.
Lmao wow yeah okay someone clearly doesn’t actually know what conversion therapy entails or the meaning of the word “riot”. I don’t have the time rn to educate because my queer disabled ass has to get to work, but if anyone would care to enlighten this person I highly encourage you to do so.
That said, Mike Pence is a bigot and I think he got exactly what he fucking deserved for going to a show created and performed by the minorities he hates so much. Even if I WERE to give president-elect overcooked carrot a chance, he blew it when he chose a raging antisemite as his chief strategist, soooooo….
I got you, Mat.
Problem 1 – Misunderstanding of what Conversion Therapy entails in 2016
– here’s the 2009 American Psychological Association report in which they find that not only does conversion therapy have no scientific basis, it also has essentially no benefits and causes significant harm, especially to adolescents
– here’s another article about why conversion therapy is harmful, and it includes stories from survivors
– here’s the Canadian Psychological Association’s stance on conversion therapy (which is essentially “don’t fucking do it”)
– sadly I can’t find any of the peer-reviewed stuff done by Shidlo and Schroeder in the late 90s/early 00s up on open-access, but they’ve written a considerable body of work on the ethical dubiousness of conversion therapy, as well as the increased risk of suicide for those subjected to it (again, particularly adolescents)
– here’s the PolitiFact page where they collect the references for Mike Pence advocating the removal of funding for HIV support and prevention, and instead using that funding for conversion therapy (hey, did you know that the show that Mike Pence went to and got boo-ed at is currently starring an HIV-positive brown gay guy and has a cast almost entirely made up of POC? Gay people and POCs: good enough to watch on stage, not good enough to be granted health care or protection from discrmination.)
– for added flavor, here’s the Huff Post article about how Mike Pence let an HIV outbreak in his state go on for months because he refused to allow the distribution of clean needles to IV drug users. Here’s the New York Times article about the same incident (does the NYT count as liberal media? I’m never sure) in which they’re much kinder about the fact that it took multiple people several months to convince him to stop the outbreak.
Problem 2 – this odd conception that people protesting against the cheetoh are doing it because their liberal feels have been hurt
(disclaimer: I’m Canadian. So I’ve got maybe half a horse in this race, because a) there are people I love who live in the US, and b) the US’s bullshit inevitably flows North)
– here’s a compilation of all the horrible things that the Cheetoh has said during his campaign (includes racism against essentially every group of non-white people available, blatant misogyny, promises of institutionalized discrimination against the LGBT community, and the part where he mocked a disabled reporter. Oh – and also he’s promised to repeal the ACA, which for many chronically disabled people is the only way they can afford healthcare.)
– hey did you know that the Cheetoh lost the popular vote? more people voted for Hilary than voted for him. Here’s three articles that point out how the Republicans’ ongoing war on voter rights helped lead to your Cheetoh in chief.
– I like how everyone conveniently forgets that Republicans protested both of Obama’s wins. (Sorry, OP, those sources are all probably too “liberal” for you, but uh. For what should be obvious reasons, conservative media isn’t particularly interested in pointing out this piece of hypocrisy.)
This isn’t a sourced fact, I’m just curious. You do understand that people aren’t protesting just because there’s a Republican in office, right?
They’re protesting because they are fucking scared.
Trump has appointed a white nationalist as his chief strategist, and a man who was refused a judgeship under Reagan because he was too racist (for the Reagan era!) as his pick for ADA. He’s put his support behind FADA, which essentially strips LGBTQ people and women (and, arguably, other minorities) of federal protection from discrimination, as long as the person doing the discriminating claims that it’s part of their religion. He’s put his support behind mass-deportations of undocumented immigrants, which will not only tear apart families but also I’m pretty sure crash the American economy. He’s put his support behind forcing American citizens who happen to be Muslim to register with a central authority which, I don’t know how well you know your history, but that has some really scary historical parallels. One of his spokespeople was on Fox News last night saying that the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII set a good historical precedent for what the Trump Administration would like to do to Muslim-Americans.
Let me re-emphasize this for you. An official Trump spokesperson. Went on national TV. And said that one of the most significant human rights violations in your country’s history. Is a good historical precedent.
I’m white and Canadian and your president-elect fucking scares me shitless.
How do you think people who are actually going to have to live under his policies feel?
(Please – tell me what you had to suck up under Obama. Which of your rights did he threaten to violate? How were you, a white, presumably straight American – based on your tumblr picture – how was your physical safety compromised?)
*EPIC MIC DROP*
California versus Trumpland
California is now the capital of liberal America. Along with its neighbors Oregon and Washington, it will be a nation within the nation starting in January when the federal government goes dark.
In sharp contrast to much of the rest of the nation, Californians preferred Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump by a 2-to-1 margin. They also voted to extend a state tax surcharge on the wealthy, and adopt local housing and transportation measures along with a slew of local tax increases and bond proposals.
In other words, California is the opposite of Trumpland.
The differences go even deeper. For years, conservatives have been saying that a healthy economy depends on low taxes, few regulations, and low wages.
Are conservatives right? At the one end of the scale are Kansas and Texas, with among the nation’s lowest taxes, least regulations, and lowest wages.
At the other end is California, with among the nation’s highest taxes, especially on the wealthy; toughest regulations, particularly when it comes to the environment; most ambitious healthcare system, that insures more than 12 million poor Californians, in partnership with Medicaid; and high wages.
So according to conservative doctrine, Kansas and Texas ought to be booming, and California ought to be in the pits.
Actually, it’s just the opposite.
For several years, Kansas’s rate of economic growth has been the worst in the nation. Last year its economy actually shrank.
Texas hasn’t been doing all that much better. Its rate of job growth has been below the national average. Retail sales are way down. The value of Texas exports has been dropping.
But what about so-called over-taxed, over-regulated, high-wage California?
California leads the nation in the rate of economic growth — more than twice the national average. If it were a separate nation it would now be the sixth largest economy in the world. Its population has surged to 39 million (up 5 percent since 2010).
California is home to the nation’s fastest-growing and most innovative industries – entertainment and high tech. It incubates more startups than anywhere else in the world.
In other words, conservatives have it exactly backwards.
Why are Kansas and Texas doing so badly, and California so well?
For one thing, taxes enable states to invest their people. The University of California is the best system of public higher education in America. Add in the state’s network of community colleges, state colleges, research institutions, and you have an unparalleled source of research, and powerful engine of upward mobility.
Kansas and Texas haven’t been investing nearly to the same extent.
California also provides services to a diverse population, including a large percentage of immigrants. Donald Trump to the contrary, such diversity is a huge plus. Both Hollywood and Silicon Valley have thrived on the ideas and energies of new immigrants.
Meanwhile, California’s regulations protect the public health and the state’s natural beauty, which also draws people to the state – including talented people who could settle anywhere.
Wages are high in California because the economy is growing so fast employers have to pay more for workers. That’s not a bad thing. After all, the goal isn’t just growth. It’s a high standard of living.
In fairness, Texas’s problems are also linked to the oil bust. But that’s really no excuse because Texas has failed to diversify its economy. Here again, it hasn’t made adequate investments.
California is far from perfect. A housing shortage has driven rents and home prices into the stratosphere. Roads are clogged. Its public schools used to be the best in the nation but are now among the worst – largely because of a proposition approved by voters in 1978 that’s strangled local school financing. Much more needs to be done.
But overall, the contrast is clear. Economic success depends on tax revenues that go into public investments, and regulations that protect the environment and public health. And true economic success results in high wages.
I’m not sure how Trumpland and California will coexist in coming years. I’m already hearing murmurs of secession by Golden Staters, and of federal intrusions by the incipient Trump administration.
But so far, California gives lie to the conservative dictum that low taxes, few regulations, and low wages are the keys economic success. Trumpland should take note.
hey wait whatever happened to the murder clowns? did that just suddenly end? i just realized ive seen nothing of that in a while
one of them became president