It also matters to give that President the tools and abilities to get the work done, which means giving that President a Congress willing to work with that White House administration to pass meaningful laws, effective budgets, and improved regulations.
That means the voters NEED to get the damn vote out across the damn board: President, Senate, House, even state legislatures and governors need to have elected into office those who will work within the system to do their jobs.
That's why it's important to keep an eye on the US Senate races.
The recent obstruction of Obama's SCOTUS nomination of Garland is a perfect example of a Republican Party that refuses to work with a White House held by an opposing party. That behavior cannot and should not stand.
So it's good news that as of now, more Senate races are up for grabs (per Talking Points Memo):
According to a newly released analysis by the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, senate races in Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Missouri and North Carolina are looking to be more favorable for Democrats than previously predicted as moderate and independent voters grow disillusioned with the GOP.
"Considering the rise of Donald Trump, the polarization in U.S. politics, and a higher rate of straight-ticket voting, this could be bad news for the GOP," a team of analysts at the UVA Center for Politics wrote.
While the analysts are not predicting that Democrats can pull off victories in all of the states they moved in the Democrats' direction, the shift reveals that many are expecting Trump and Cruz to be a drag on down-ballot races.
Granted, this article has more to do about how the top-tier Presidential ticket is killing the rest of the Republican line-up, but the article does point out there are signs people are waking up to how the entire GOP is dysfunctional. It's a party crazy and impotent enough to allow two highly unlikable, self-absorbed sociopaths to become the standard bearers for an entire party beholden to such insanity.
The voters are going to put two plus two together, and figure out the obstructionist, destructive behavior by their GOP Senators is the same type of behavior they see in Trump and Cruz.
So this is key, people.
Get everyone you know registered to vote and aware of which Party - Democrats - is the one that actually wants government to work the way it ought to.
Get the damn vote out, people. And make sure there are people worth voting for running for office.
1 comment:
It's important to take the time to get the rest of the ballot right. That can mean knowing some details about how your election works. Like in 2010 the mayor of Oakland was decided in an "instant runoff" election for the first time, and even though Perata got the most votes, he didn't get 50% and so the second ballot choices gave us Jean Quan, who was OK on the city council, but wasn't a very good mayor. She was my second choice, and I never thought it would come down to second choices, but it did. If I had thought about it just a little more, it would have occurred to me that with multiple candidates and no prohibitive favorite (as were the previous two mayors; Ron Dellums, and Jerry Brown), it was likely that nobody would get 50% the first go, and I would have voted accordingly. Details matter.
-Doug in Oakland
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