[2011 election results] Huzzah! Sunday drinking and Collective Bargaining!

CommunistCow

So, the voters of Colorado and Denver have disappointed the hell out of me. We had a state wide prop that would increase income tax by .37% and sales tax by .1% to directly fund pre-school through 12 and public higher ed. This lost by a good 27%.

In Denver county, we had an referendum to have all companies in Denver county, with over 10 people, provide 1 hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked. This went down by a similar margin of 29%.

I am completely flabbergasted by these, especially the latter. There aren't enough small business owners to vote something down by this sort of margin. So why are people voting against mandatory sick time for their fellow workers? Better yet, why does a generally liberal county vote like this? Why can't people take a very very tiny tax increase to help education?

So how did everyone else's election go?

Chanus

Ours is next week, but I'm sure it will be disappointing.

adytum

Local election coverage is pretty much restricted to roadside signs and the occasional Post article.

Captain Carrot

Next week Virginia is most likely set to hand a 15-20 seat majority in the House to Republicans and wipe out the 2 seat majority Democrats hold in the Senate. Sigh.

adytum

Also one of those roadside signs has an unfortunate montage that includes an individual with a rifle aiming at another individual's back as they run away.

Something something family values.

DigitalD

Captain Carrot wrote:

Next week Virginia is most likely set to hand a 15-20 seat majority in the House to Republicans and wipe out the 2 seat majority Democrats hold in the Senate. Sigh.

Dunno why you're shocked it is Virginia. There are Republicans, and Corpra/hawk/ocrats around here. It's also still the South. Just not as crazy as say, Alabama or Florida.

Captain Carrot

When did I say I was shocked? Also, Northern Virginia is not the South.

Chanus

Hell, Richmond is only marginally the South.

The South doesn't consider Virginia the South.

Thanatos

We're going to kill a desperately needed transportation car tab, put our tolling into the hands of the legislature instead of independent experts (effectively killing light rail for Western Washington), and re-elect every useless fuck incumbent on the city council, because they raise so much money that no one can afford to run against them.

a5ehren

We're voting on Sunday alcohol sales and some parks bonds. No state-wide issues this year.

DigitalD

Captain Carrot wrote:

When did I say I was shocked? Also, Northern Virginia is not the South.

Geographically and for all intents it still is. Despite the fact that they desperately like to pretend NOVA is not part of VA, it still is. They can claim it's not when they split off and change geography and the history books. Till then, they are just lying their asses off about it.

Captain Carrot

The South is far more about culture than geography, and being part of a Southern state does not make that region Southern.

Cantido

My state sucks because it's Florida and Rick Scott is a scumbag.

Toldo

Captain Carrot wrote:

The South is far more about culture than geography, and being part of a Southern state does not make that region Southern.

See: Maryland

Chanus

There's no definition of Maryland being a Southern state.

Virginia at least was part of the Confederacy.

Toldo

Chanus wrote:

There's no definition of Maryland being a Southern state.

Virginia at least was part of the Confederacy.

Maryland is south of the Mason-Dixon line, at least.

Thanatos

Toldo wrote:

Captain Carrot wrote:

The South is far more about culture than geography, and being part of a Southern state does not make that region Southern.

See: Maryland

o_O

Maryland isn't Southern.

Modern Man

Chanus wrote:

There's no definition of Maryland being a Southern state.

Virginia at least was part of the Confederacy.

Maryland is south of the Mason-Dixon line. Maryland might well have seceded if Lincoln hadn't sent in federal troops to secure DC's supply lines. Maryland had plantation slavery, just not on the same level as more southern states.

But Maryland hasn't really been a southern state for some time, culturally-speaking. Northern Virginia isn't really culturally southern anymore. DC is more southern, from a cultural perspective. Especially the black community.

Chanus

No practical definition, I mean.

You could also call Maryland southern because it's south of Canada, but that doesn't mean anything.

spool32

Voting on twelve amendments to the Texas Constitution!

:rotate:

We are so odd sometimes.

Captain Carrot

T-twelve? How many of them are red meat?

Thanatos

Captain Carrot wrote:

T-twelve? How many of them are red meat?

*Eliminate all taxation
*Legalize lynching
*Appoint Rick Perry governor for life
*Convert Austin into walled-in superprison

Capfalcon

Thanatos wrote:

*Convert Austin into walled-in superprison

I think you also have to mandate the creation of the Batman to get that one passed.

DevoutlyApathetic

Capfalcon wrote:

Thanatos wrote:

*Convert Austin into walled-in superprison

I think you also have to mandate the creation of the Batman to get that one passed.

Listen, either you believe in the free market or not.

Lovely

Cantido wrote:

My state sucks because it's Florida and Rick Scott is a scumbag.

It's true. So very, very, horribly, sadly true.

I still see some cars around where I live that have Rick Scott bumper stickers. Always kills a piece of my soul.

Cantido

A Plague on All His Houses, plz.

Gigazombie Cybermage

Dammit. I'm getting closer and closer to throwing my hands up and voting Republican just to see the glorious destruction it would bring. Hell, if we're gonna become a Banana Republic, might as well not do it halfway. People in this country don't deserve democracy. No, better than that, they deserve the "democracy" they get. I'm starting to utterly hate people. Let's all vote Republican everyone! Let the suffering resulting from it feed you!

We deserve every god damn thing that's happening to us right now. Fuck this country.

Chanus

Gigazombie Cybermage wrote:

Dammit. I'm getting closer and closer to throwing my hands up and voting Republican just to see the glorious destruction it would bring. Hell, if we're gonna become a Banana Republic, might as well not do it halfway. People in this country don't deserve democracy. No, better than that, they deserve the "democracy" they get. I'm starting to utterly hate people. Let's all vote Republican everyone! Let the suffering resulting from it feed you!

We deserve every god damn thing that's happening to us right now. Fuck this country.

I feel this way, sometimes.

Then I remember I'm white, male, hetero, employed, and live in a fairly protected state (Virginia).

It wouldn't really suck for me like it would for others. I'll be mad, and see injustice all around me, but my reproductive rights are fine, my civil rights are fine, it's not any more likely than normal that I'd lose my job. It's not me that's going to get fucked over.

So I can't let it be my discouragement that fucks women and minorities over.

Gigazombie Cybermage

The problem, Chanus, is we're just delaying the inevitable. No, actually, not even that. We're using a garden hose against a waterfall. I'm convinced now, that democracy can't work. People are too stupid, too easily manipulated, and once they have their own biases they won't ever change their mind. We have Orwellian "newspeak" thanks to the Republicans to help things along. The Republicans are utterly evil and corrupt, but even the only other viable party (For now, depends on when the unions get destroyed completely), the Dems, aren't free of corruption either. They're also spineless and politically inept.

Chanus

What's your alternative to representative democracy? What system isn't worse?

Gigazombie Cybermage

I don't know. But dammit I'm gonna find out.

Modern Man

Gigazombie Cybermage wrote:

I don't know. But dammit I'm gonna find out.

You starting your own country? Let us know how that works out.

Chanus

Corporate Theocracy is what we'll get from the Republicans.

Doesn't sound too awesome.

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

The solution is to make the U.S. government (especially federal) a more democratic institution, not less. The way the federal legislature is set up contributes more to political dysfunction than any other single factor.

zepherin

CommunistCow wrote:

I am completely flabbergasted by these, especially the latter. There aren't enough small business owners to vote something down by this sort of margin. So why are people voting against mandatory sick time for their fellow workers? Better yet, why does a generally liberal county vote like this? Why can't people take a very very tiny tax increase to help education?

A few reasons. The first is timing. There are no congressional or presidential people being elected so you tend to have older people voting, and they vote more conservatively. Two, if there are too many propositions on the ballet, they almost all get voted down because of human psychology. Three, sometimes people are just dicks.

Gigazombie Cybermage

We have to make voting mandatory or something. This is ridiculous.

zepherin

Gigazombie Cybermage wrote:

We have to make voting mandatory or something. This is ridiculous.

I would be ok with that if they also allowed people to vote online

Chanus

zepherin wrote:

Gigazombie Cybermage wrote:

We have to make voting mandatory or something. This is ridiculous.

I would be ok with that if they also allowed people to vote online

Man, we are headed really fast down Wrong Idea Turnpike.

Gigazombie Cybermage

Why is mandatory voting a bad idea? It's the least we can do for the people that died for the right to vote. A little inconvenience doesn't compare to that. Okay, I suppose that's not a valid argument. Look at it this way, it would allow the country to be governed by the entirety of the people, instead of relying on how enthusiastic certain factions are.

Chanus

Mandatory voting ensures an uneducated electorate, and could probably be argued to violate the First Amendment.

Internet voting is just retarded. I mean, come on.

shryke

Chanus wrote:

Mandatory voting ensures an uneducated electorate, and could probably be argued to violate the First Amendment.

How is that any different from the electorate now?