Lets leave Measure B behind us for a minute….there…feels good doesn’t it?
Barack Obama is now my President for the second time. I didn’t vote for him, Gary Johnson earned that honor, but I can’t help but look at the election and draw some conclusions.
The Republicans have got to do some serious soul searching to remain viable four years from now. They have got to let go of the far right and they have got to get get closer to ethnic groups, particularly Latinos. Their immigration, and gay and womens rights positions are killing them, and those groups are a growing part of the electorate in the states they HAVE to win.
Democrats had better pay attention too particularly on government spending, Thats the sword of Damocles over their heads.
It is the Independent voters that decide the elections and whether they know it or not they tend to be of Libertarian principles. Both parties need to pay attention to that.
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The Republicans have some very serious issues. One of those problems is that they are attached to a Christian centric religious base, in a time when Atheism and other religions are coming to the fore. Being Christian or Catholic is a declining deal. Right away, they will always have problems because they are dealing from a point of opposition to a growing number of the community.
That leads us to the abortion issue. For or against, the one thing any married many will tell you is that women hate to be told what to do. Having dim bulbs come out and say things like “pregnancy from rape is god’s will” only goes to drive a bigger wedge between the Republican party and women.
After that, you have the issues of the minority groups (aiming soon to be majorities in more places). The Hispanic vote is mostly falling on the Democratic side, for all sorts of reasons. Unless the Republicans find a way to get this group engaged, they are lost. Holding up immigration reform forever isn’t going to win them any hearts or minds.
After that, I also personally feel there is a little of last year’s 1% thing that comes into play. The Republicans are the party of the 1%ers, twits like Donald Trump. These people don’t do anything to bring the masses onto the Republican’s side, rather they serve to alienate the people who could in fact raise the party up.
Finally, a small note from this election: You can tell people are not that enthusiastic about either candidate because of the voter turn out. Last time people were engaged about Obama and turned out in droves. This time around, the drop in turnout is about 7 times higher on the Democrat site. Last time about 69 million to 59 million, this time 61 million to 58 million. So the people who didn’t turn out are the ones that pushed Obama to the massive win last time out. So Democrats also need to reflect, Obama didn’t do a great job in his first term, and without a stellar second term, it’s unlikely we will ever see President Biden.