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We'll all talk about this more tomorrow, but I blame the geniuses in the Democratic Party -- both in the White House and elsewhere -- who failed to establish firmly the narrative after the election that needed to be hammered home daily and relentlessly and fearlessly: that Americans had repudiated conservative rule because it had manifestly proven itself a failure. Instead, Democrats thought "bipartisanship" was more important. Sure it was.
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Now. We. Fight.
First, some perspective, which I've posted before:
The repugs picked up far than the 100 Democratic seats in the House and 14 in the Senate that they predicted they would, therefore the entire election is a MASSIVE FAILURE by republicans, a HUGE VICTORY for the Democratic Party, and an ENORMOUS MANDATE for President Obama to jam down Congress' throat every bit of his liberal agenda - repealing DADT and DOMA, passing ENDA, EFCA and a $3 trillion deficit-financed jobs/stimulus/infrastructure bill. And not just cancelling the Bush tax cuts for the rich, but increasing the rate to 75 percent for the duration of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
However many seats Democrats lost in the House and the Senate, most losing Democratic incumbents were Blue Dog/DINO/traitors whose departure is good riddance and a terrific boon for the Democratic Party. The more Blue Dog seats the Democratic Party loses, the STRONGER that makes the Democratic Party and President Obama, because the party has shed traitors who voted with repugs anyway. The fewer Blue Dogs, the more Democratic, cohesive, loyal and determined the Democratic Party is.
Many of those losing Blue Dogs are freshmen who beat repug incumbents by riding President Obama's 2008 coattails. President Obama is not on the ballot this year, which lowers turnout among the many new voters who turned out specifically for him in 2008 and will do so again in 2012.
No matter how many seats the Democratic Party loses in the House and the Senate, it is good news for President Obama in 2012.
What now?
Now. We. Fight.
MSNBC host Chris Matthews asked Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) last night if she was "hypnotized." Matthews was pressing her on whether the new GOP majority would use its subpoena power to investigate Democrats for "un-American activities," but Bachmann refused to give a straight answer and would not "budge from her talking points on jobs and the economy." "Has someone hypnotized you?" Matthews asked, "Because no matter what I ask you, you give the same answer."
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Three electoral reforms that would improve our democracy
Today, millions of Americans are voting or have voted for a variety of local, state, and federal offices and for various ballot initiatives. By doing so, they took part in a proud American tradition of choosing our leadership and our policies that stretches back since the nation's founding.
But the American electoral system that governs this process is far from perfect. The candidates on many Americans' ballots had to spend tens of millions of dollars to be competitive, pandering to powerful special interests to build their war chests. Americans' choices are limited by a ballotting process that discourages multi-party democracy. And many voters can't even get off work to vote. On this election day, ThinkProgress presents three critical reforms that would overhaul America's system of representative democracy, making it more meaningful and robust:
– Publicly Finance All Federal Campaigns: According to Federal Elections Commission data collected by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, more than $3.98 billion was spent on elections this campaign season. Much of this money comes from powerful corporate interests. For example, the finance, real estate, and insurance industries — who have keen interest in legislation dealing with financial reform, the mortgage market, and other major issues — alone contributed a whopping $216 million this season. Candidates for office feel obliged to tap into the wallets of these special interests in order to get their messages out and run competitive campaigns. The only major alternative is to self-fund, which has resulted in campaigns like that of California Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman. Whitman spent $140 million of her run for the Governor's mansion. An electoral system that relies candidates to either be super-wealthy or pander to powerful special interests in order to fundraise is broken. A better system would be to publicly finance viable candidates. The bipartisan Fair Elections Now Act would allow candidates who received a qualifying number of small contributions to receive public financing for their campaigns, meaning they are accountable only to the general public, not special interests. Campaign finance experts estimate that as little as $6 from every American would be enough to publicly finance all federal campaigns.
– Enact Instant Runoff Voting Nationwide: American politics is overwhelmingly dominated by two major political parties: the Democratic and Republican parties. Yet polling shows that Americans, by a wide margin, feel that there needs to be more diversity and more choices in the American political system. The dilemma that voters have always faced when it comes to voting for third parties or independent candidates involves not wanting the "greater evil" to win. For example, progressive voters who do not want to vote for a conservative Democrat are afraid that by voting for a progressive third party candidate, they will be enabling a more conservative Republican to win by denying the Democrat votes. Instant runoff voting (IRV) would eliminate this problem. Instant runoff voting would allow voters to rank their choices on the ballot. If their first choice fails to garner enough votes to win, their votes will instantly be lumped onto their second choice, so on and so forth. So in the aforementioned example, if the third party progressive failed to win, a voter could choose to have their votes go directly to the conservative Democrat, making it so that they no longer have to choose the "lesser evil." Additionally, IRV saves money by eliminating the need for runoffs. IRV systems continue to spread across the country, with the state of North Carolina using it for the first time today.
– Make Voting Day A National Holiday And Allow For Same-Day Registration: Unfortunately, nationwide voting for federal elections is always located on a weekday. Because of this, voting is a major obstacle for workers who feel like they have to choose between a paycheck and a ballot. While 30 states have laws that mandate voting time for employees, 20 states do not. Making voting day a national holiday would both make it easier for millions of Americans to vote and provide workers with more well-deserved time off. Additionally, allowing for voters to register the same day that they vote would boost voter turnout and cut down on bureaucracy.
The electoral system that Americans are utilizing today is a gift given to them by centuries of struggles by their forefathers. Yet one of the most admirable features of this system is that it has evolved over time, becoming more democratic and holistic. By enacting these progressive reforms, our country can make our system more accountable, more transparent, and more accessible, more fully realizing the dream that this is a country "of the people, by the people, and for the people," as the Declaration of Independence reads.
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