Wednesday, November 5, 2014

How Can Americans be SO DUMB?

The election results for 2014 are (mostly) in, and we can all respond with a resounding (facepalm).

Long story short, the Rethuglicans won most races.  They now control both the House and Senate, and they have won several governor's races as well.  Neither Wisconsin nor Florida will be "Scott-Free" anytime soon, and genuine progressives (especially progressive women) have lost almost every race this year.  But although Wendy Davis was defeated in Texas, at least Rick "The Executioner" Perry will be gone, and Andrew Cuomo did manage to defeat the notorious teabagger Rob ASStorino in New York.  Otherwise, things look VERY bleak for progressives indeed, at least until 2016 when we must redouble our efforts.   So how can Americans be so dumb and bamboozled to vote against their own interests?  Must be our educational system, which the Rethuglicans have systematically scuttled over the past few decades.  And it's apparently working just as they planned.

On the plus side, it looks like Alaska, Oregon, and Washington DC will join Colorado and Washington in legalizing cannabis for recreational use.  Some of these initiatives will take effect as early as next year.  But alas, "California Dreaming" won't become a reality until at least 2016, unless the California legislature and Governor Jerry Brown wise up in the meantime and pass a legalization bill themselves. (crickets chirping)  And San Francisco joined Seattle in raising their minimum wage to a whopping $15/hour--it's about time!

So it looks like the next two years will be rather rough for us progressives, but we must never give up.  Because if we do, we will literally have no one to blame but ourselves.  Fight the good fight!