A great night... with a few noteworthy exceptions:
Last night was quite a night. There were a lot of reasons to celebrate. There are still some things I'm keeping my fingers crossed on here in-state, of course, but for the vast majority, things look awesome. For the most part, the election is either leaning the directions I wanted and looking promising (Referendum 74, Jay Inslee, though these are too close to call), or have been called (Obama, marijuana legalization, various local government races) and what I voted for has won.
There are a few exceptions. Here's my thoughts on those:
Initiative 1185: Apparently, a majority (but not a supermajority) think it should take a supermajority to raise taxes. I'm curious as to the constitutionality of this initiative, but assuming it stands... Worst case scenario: Washington goes absolutely bankrupt thanks to making it impossible to raise funds for basic needs, like roads, schools, and so forth. (Amazing what a decade of Tim Eyeman initiatives can do to this state...) Washington voters realize how broken that is, and eventually right it, but there's some damage in the mid-length term. Best case scenario: Washington voters intelligently realize the needs for basic taxes by a supermajority, and vote for them as needed. Unfortunately, this best-case scenario does not seem likely, judging from some of the other stuff on this ballot (which I'll mention in a moment).
Initiative 1240: Okay, this one isn't called yet -- it could still be rejected -- but if I'm hopeful about R-74 and the governor's race, I need to be equally concerned about this one. Worst case scenario: Charter schools drain more money out of the public school system, and corporatize public schools in the same fashion as corporations have made an industry out of the criminal justice system. Our school system fails spectacularly. Best case scenario: With more schools, I get a permanent teaching gig, finally. The charter schools work exactly as advertised: they help the kids who need alternative help, without draining any funds out of the public school system, and what they do take is replaced by new funds from pot-sales. In reality, I suspect it'll be somewhere in the middle -- not good, but not the end of the world. In theory, it can be made to work -- I just don't have a lot of faith in it working here.
State Amendment 8221: This one was passed, when I recommended against it. Combined with 1185, Washington's going to go broke. Our state now has a lot of restrictions on how it can borrow, it's going to hurt our state's credit rating, it's going to pull money away from road repairs and school constructions... this may end up being invisible to a lot of people, but it's going to have some far-reaching implications. We're cutting off all the places where we can get funding for our state. This is a problem.
Amendment 8223: This one failed. I suggested approving it, though I had my concerns. Without it, costs for WSU and UW will continue to rise unless we find another way to deal with it. Perhaps we can find a new way to deal with it that doesn't make me somewhat nervous.
The Advisory Bills: These were two totally meaningless bills that would have no effect but asked the voters their opinions (with damning language) on raising taxes or ending a tax-break. Okay, I could have told you that these two would go down in flames, particularly with the damning language included, but they also mean absolutely nothing. They're completely unbinding. But it does tell me one thing: we're not going to ever get a supermajority on any attempt to raise taxes. Realize a supermajority is NOT needed to lower taxes. And realize we can't borrow money as well as we once could. What do you suppose we just did to our state's income, when you look at the other things which passed, and what these advisory bills tell us?
Lt. Governor: I recommended the Republican here, because he's actually more progressive than the Democrat, who's been useless, and who's used his platform to campaign against the evils of pot (particularly ironic when you consider what just passed). I suspect we just, as a state, don't pay attention to this position (it's pretty useless). But regardless of who won this one, the position is simply not supremely important, and things will mostly progress the same either way, unless something happens to the governor.
Secretary of State: Really too close to call, but it's currently giving a very very slight edge to the Republican. I won't be heartbroken -- my main skepticism with Wyman was that "R" by her name, but she otherwise seemed a good candidate (as was my candidate). Still, the association does mean I'll be watching.
There were also a couple judicial cases where there were two good candidates, and the one I voted for isn't the one who was elected, but I'm okay with that.
Overall, this has been a great election season for me. But there are definitely things here in state which I'll be watching (and nationally, too, of course). You never get everything you want in politics, and the work of being an informed voter is never done. Overall, I'm celebrating... but there's still work to be done.
There are a few exceptions. Here's my thoughts on those:
Initiative 1185: Apparently, a majority (but not a supermajority) think it should take a supermajority to raise taxes. I'm curious as to the constitutionality of this initiative, but assuming it stands... Worst case scenario: Washington goes absolutely bankrupt thanks to making it impossible to raise funds for basic needs, like roads, schools, and so forth. (Amazing what a decade of Tim Eyeman initiatives can do to this state...) Washington voters realize how broken that is, and eventually right it, but there's some damage in the mid-length term. Best case scenario: Washington voters intelligently realize the needs for basic taxes by a supermajority, and vote for them as needed. Unfortunately, this best-case scenario does not seem likely, judging from some of the other stuff on this ballot (which I'll mention in a moment).
Initiative 1240: Okay, this one isn't called yet -- it could still be rejected -- but if I'm hopeful about R-74 and the governor's race, I need to be equally concerned about this one. Worst case scenario: Charter schools drain more money out of the public school system, and corporatize public schools in the same fashion as corporations have made an industry out of the criminal justice system. Our school system fails spectacularly. Best case scenario: With more schools, I get a permanent teaching gig, finally. The charter schools work exactly as advertised: they help the kids who need alternative help, without draining any funds out of the public school system, and what they do take is replaced by new funds from pot-sales. In reality, I suspect it'll be somewhere in the middle -- not good, but not the end of the world. In theory, it can be made to work -- I just don't have a lot of faith in it working here.
State Amendment 8221: This one was passed, when I recommended against it. Combined with 1185, Washington's going to go broke. Our state now has a lot of restrictions on how it can borrow, it's going to hurt our state's credit rating, it's going to pull money away from road repairs and school constructions... this may end up being invisible to a lot of people, but it's going to have some far-reaching implications. We're cutting off all the places where we can get funding for our state. This is a problem.
Amendment 8223: This one failed. I suggested approving it, though I had my concerns. Without it, costs for WSU and UW will continue to rise unless we find another way to deal with it. Perhaps we can find a new way to deal with it that doesn't make me somewhat nervous.
The Advisory Bills: These were two totally meaningless bills that would have no effect but asked the voters their opinions (with damning language) on raising taxes or ending a tax-break. Okay, I could have told you that these two would go down in flames, particularly with the damning language included, but they also mean absolutely nothing. They're completely unbinding. But it does tell me one thing: we're not going to ever get a supermajority on any attempt to raise taxes. Realize a supermajority is NOT needed to lower taxes. And realize we can't borrow money as well as we once could. What do you suppose we just did to our state's income, when you look at the other things which passed, and what these advisory bills tell us?
Lt. Governor: I recommended the Republican here, because he's actually more progressive than the Democrat, who's been useless, and who's used his platform to campaign against the evils of pot (particularly ironic when you consider what just passed). I suspect we just, as a state, don't pay attention to this position (it's pretty useless). But regardless of who won this one, the position is simply not supremely important, and things will mostly progress the same either way, unless something happens to the governor.
Secretary of State: Really too close to call, but it's currently giving a very very slight edge to the Republican. I won't be heartbroken -- my main skepticism with Wyman was that "R" by her name, but she otherwise seemed a good candidate (as was my candidate). Still, the association does mean I'll be watching.
There were also a couple judicial cases where there were two good candidates, and the one I voted for isn't the one who was elected, but I'm okay with that.
Overall, this has been a great election season for me. But there are definitely things here in state which I'll be watching (and nationally, too, of course). You never get everything you want in politics, and the work of being an informed voter is never done. Overall, I'm celebrating... but there's still work to be done.