Election Results
The election has happened and we’re all still here. Good job democracy.
As predicted, Obama won and the Texas senate seat and my Congressional district went to the two Republicans. it’s sad how in the bag those were. It looks like the Democrats will remain in control of the Senate and the Republicans in control of the House. So, again, nothing has really changed. We’ll see the same gridlock we’ve seen for the last 2yrs at least.
How did the third parties fair? That’s a mixed question. On one hand, none of them came close to getting the necessary 5% of the vote to receive Federal Election funds next time. However, there seemed to be an overall increase in votes for third parties. Taking a rough estimate late last night, I counted ~910,000 votes for Libertarians and ~280,000 for Green. That’s nothing compared to the ~120 million for Democrats and Republicans between them.
BUT, when you look at the results from the last two elections, it’s significant. In 2008, Libertarians got 524,000 and Greens 162,000. That’s an increase of around 42% each. In 2004 they had L: 397,000 G: 118,000, so an increase of around 24%. Each election both of their votes are increasing, and the rate at which they are increasing is, itself, increasing.
Using my advanced skills in Bullshit Statistics, I calculate that if that increase in increase continues at this rate, Libertarians will likely have 5% of the vote in 2028 and Greens in 2036. That could be earlier if the rate in increase of the increase increases. Boom! Mind blown with my terrible sentence structure and bullshit science!
Seriously though, this is a good trend. The number of people voting for third parties is increasing. With some effort we could have a legitimate third party within the next few elections. There are already two independent Senators. If some House races started to get challenged by third parties more, it would be the best way to grow some support.
Even though I’m not a huge fan of Libertarians, I’d still be in support of them gaining that third party slot. Because just having a third major party would be a good thing. You can go overboard with parties (*cough* Italy *cough*) but I think two is to few. 3-5 would be perfect. Then you have more of a spectrum but not to many to make it confusing.
In other areas, the four states with ballot measures dealing with same-sex marriage all had a good night. Current projections show legalization in three states and the rejection of a ban in one. That’s a nice turn around from the ugliness of 2004 when so many states banned it. Still a long way to go in this are, but things are now moving in the right direction.
There were even a few states that passed state laws to legalize marijuana, in some form. I’m not a fan of marijuana use (just like I don’t care for alcohol) but I don’t see the need to make it illegal. As long as people don’t drive or other stupid things while under it’s effects, its actually safer for you than alcohol (no liver damage). But it’s a drug and for many that makes it scary. The fact that it’s being legalized in some places is very interesting.
Does all of this suggest a trend to a more free and progressive society? You could say so. This election same-sex marriage and marijuana have been legalized in some places, a corporate plutocrat with unlimited campaign finances has been denied the presidency, we now have our first openly gay US Senator, third party votes are on the rise.
There’s lots of reasons you could give that things aren’t really improving but let’s not worry about that today. Change takes place over time and in small steps. We took some steps forward yesterday. There’s still a ways to go but we’re moving in the right direction at the moment.
