Election Night 2010

Well, as expected, the Democrats got taken behind the barn for a good old fashion whooping. I’m not going to say they didn’t deserve it, because they probably did.

However, if you look behind the headlines, you will find both disturbing news and rays of hope.

The disturbing news is that three judges in Iowa, among the seven that voted unanimously to legalize gay marriage, were defeated in their re-election bids. The sole reason for this removal appears to be that vote. The anti-gay marriage forces campaigned hard against them and this was the first time that sitting judges were removed by popular vote.

I never could understand the concept of having judges being elected. This sort of runs counter to the concept of an independent judiciary that can protect the rights of the minority against the tyranny of the majority. Still, several states do it. I know New York does.

The removal of the judges is by far the most disturbing aspect of last night’s election. Not only does it jeopardize the independence of the judiciary, it clearly demonstrates that the country still isn’t ready for gay marriage.

Ok, now for the good news. The three biggest morons ever nominated for the U.S. Senate, Christine O’Donnell in Delaware, Sharron Angle in Nevada and Joe Miller in Alaska, all appear to have been rejected by the electorate. The only race still up in the air a bit is Alaska where “Write-in” is ahead. This of course is Lisa Murkowski, who is also a moron, but not nearly as big a moron as Miller.

I think we can all take enormous satisfaction in the fact that Angle and, especially O’Donnell, will not be headed for Washington. Here’s hoping they’re headed for obscurity instead.

So now what? Hopefully the Republicans will focus on the economy and financial issues while ignoring, or at most playing lip service to, social issues and the Democrats will meet them half-way. The most important issue over the next two years will be to get some fiscal responsibility in place.

The Democrats didn’t really understand that, perhaps the Republicans do. Personally I doubt it. I’m betting the Republicans do nothing for the next two years other than work at making Obama look bad and blaming the Democrats for everything.

Let’s hope the American Electorate isn’t stupid enough to buy it although I’m pretty sure it is stupid enough.

In the meantime the lame ducks have to wrestle with the fate of the Bush tax cuts. This should be entertaining.