[Vision2020] Thank you for not voting

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of today's (November 9, 2014) Spokesman-Review.

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Smart Bombs: Thank you for not voting
Gary Crooks     Editor, Spokesman-Review

From Sherman Alexie’s Twitter feed: “If you think Democrats & GOP are the same, then there’s a 98% chance you’re a straight white guy.” 

The Native American author pinpoints a gripe I have with people who rationalize their indifference to politics. If something doesn’t directly benefit them, it doesn’t matter. If they don’t follow issues, it’s the system’s fault.

I would hope we straight white guys could acknowledge that we’ve enjoyed all of the rights and privileges conferred upon Americans from day one. Not shackled. Not closeted. Not marginalized. Not confined to the worst real estate in the country. Since then, others have been gaining equal rights. You have to be totally self-absorbed to ignore what that means.

To say you’ve dropped out of civic life because the parties are the same is a declaration of ignorance. They’re far apart on climate change, taxes, civil rights, health care, abortion, the role of government and on and on.

If you had to fight for your rights, you wouldn’t have the luxury of coasting. You might recognize why politics matters. In the meantime, thanks for not voting.

Role model. You’re an Idaho teacher coming to grips with the dispiriting news that disengaged Sherri Ybarra is now the state superintendent of public instruction. A student has turned in an obviously plagiarized paper. 

Do you overlook this, as the majority of voters did in electing Ybarra? Or do you punish a child in a way that a grown-up was not?

Colors. Political reporter Jim Camden’s post-election analysis (Thursday’s edition) is bad news for Democrats. The areas outside the city of Spokane are growing more conservative, and that’s where the most population growth is expected to occur. Republicans hold all but one countywide office. District 3, it seems, is the only one where a local Democrat can hope to win a seat in Olympia. 

Spokane County commissioners are all Republicans. The Spokane City Council is currently a redoubt for Democrats, though the positions are officially nonpartisan. The county and the city have declared a truce when it comes to pushing out the urban growth boundary. But since the county gets redder with growth, expect more clashes that will reveal true colors.

Distant Bums. Most people are miffed at Congress, but they generally re-elect their incumbents. In our region, Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Raul Labrador breezed to re-election. So did Idaho Sen. Jim Risch. 

It doesn’t matter how angry voters become, as long as they believe “the bums” to be thrown out reside elsewhere.

CURRENT AFFAIRS. After Tuesday’s shellacking, is there any good news for Democrats? Yes, because voters often diverge from their favorite candidates on the issues. For instance, voters in Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota overwhelmingly supported increases in the minimum wage. That’s something their Republican-controlled legislatures wouldn’t do. 

The federal minimum wage is slower to change, because there is no direct democracy on federal issues. So even though 70 percent of Americans favor an increase, strategic redistricting and special-interest lobbying can block it. The same is true with universal background checks on gun sales. Congress won’t hear of it, even though a July poll from Quinnipiac University showed that 92 percent of Democrats and 86 percent of Republicans are supportive.

Legalized marijuana and same-sex marriage are two more issues trending liberal. Meanwhile, voters crushed so-called personhood measures in North Dakota and Colorado (for the third time). These were bids to extend rights to fetuses to undercut abortion rights.

The election has been dubbed “a wave” for Republicans, but the undertow is with Democrats on some important issues.

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Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
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