Samhain Fallowturn Moon
Amendments – MN 100% reporting
| For | Against | |
| Marriage | 48% | 52% |
| Photo ID | 46% | 53% |
Source: AP and MN Secretary of State
Wow. Just wow. Most hopeful sign to me of the evening? The return of the Minnesota legislature to DFL hands. Second most hopeful. Apparent defeat of the constitutional amendments. Third. Senate gains by the Dems. Fourth. Obama did win.
In the first instance I’d felt the Minnesota I adopted in the early 1970’s had begun to slip away, headed toward a cold Tennessee or Nebraska. After 8 years of Pawlenty and the no new taxes madness, after four years of Jesse Ventura who made automobile license fees safe for owners of Porsches, it seemed that the compassionate, communal, progressive state I immigrated to in 1971 had signed up with the go it alone, free market (as long as they work for us), flag-wavers. It made me feel isolated.
Now, I’m happy to say we’ve gone for Obama, re-elected a DFL senator, come close to unseating Michelle Bachmann and, it seems right now, defeated two fearful, ideological amendments to our constitution: voter id and marriage limited to a man and a woman. I’m most proud of the defeats of the amendments, if the vote counts hold, because they have been victorious in most places (voter id) and in every place (marriage) they’ve been put forward. This is Minnesota showing it will not be captive to the fear moguls. Yes!
The Senate gains by the Democrats, apposite to the predicted Senate capture by the Republicans, mean we’re closer than ever to cloture vote totals. If only a handful of Republican senators can stiff arm the extremists in their party, we may be able to get something done in the Senate.
Finally, Obama’s win. He will get to name Supreme Court justices. A very big deal. Hopefully he will become more active in naming other Federal judges. The Affordable Healthcare Act will now move toward full implementation. Beyond that, I’m not sure what we’ll see. Obama’s proven a more pragmatic president on many of my issues: environment, foreign policy, aid to those ravaged by the greed of the big banks and wall street. I hope he will grow some spine and front the Republicans on these issues.
But you say. He has to govern. Yes, he does. And that comes first. Still, I believe he can do better.
