Last night's ballot initiatives show that progressive issues are big winners in the eyes of voters

[Triana]

YET - they also voted for bassackwards, obstructionist Republicans who will NEVER support those progressive issues ie: Arkansas



JUST IMAGINE what would have happened if our Democratic candidates actually CAMPAIGNED FURIOUSLY on these progressive issues instead of running away from them and from Obama/Obamacare?

[Little Star]

1. Ain't that the truth.

[think]

2. Why didn't Democrats campaign harder on these issues?... /nt

[emulatorloo]

12. In Colorado Udall did campaign on reproductive rights

Bizarrely voters did the right thing on Ballot Initiative but then elected Gardner, who is a personhood type.

[TreasonousBastard]

3. Fuhgeddabout polling-- out here...

all 6 progressive and environmental ballot propositions passed, but every Democrat on the ballot lost.


go figure.

[Renew Deal]

4. Also in NY, redistricting rules and money for education passed

[liberal_at_heart]

5. I think this proves that it is the candidates and the platform of the democrats that is the problem.

I wish people would quit blaming the voters. The voters are making a statement with their vote. When people are suffering economically and the party in charge is not doing enough to improve things they vote them out. It is that simple. The voters themselves are taking matters into their own hands and voting in initiatives that improve their lives since they can't count on the politicians to do it for them. Democrats need to be fighting harder for a living wage, unions, pensions, education, food stamps, Social Security. Until people feel like their lives are improving they will keep flip flopping between the parties. If the Democrats want to win and stay in office they will have to adopt more populist policies.

[RobinA]

14. I Will Blame

the voters as long as they can't seem to connect the issues they care about with the people they vote for. I am a staunch pro-choicer and you better believe I know where candidates stand on that issue, and I vote accordingly. If they play coy they don't get my vote. It's really not that hard. On some issues I have to take my best shot. I am very pro-National Park. I can't always tell who is going to support drilling for oil in Yellowstone, but I can take an educated guess which party is more likely to be in my corner. I am therefore NOT going to vote for the, Drill baby drill party.

While I'll agree that the party and the candidates have been doing a lousy job of working the issues AND I certainly agree that there needs to be a big move left, I still can't let all that get in the way of my doing what I can to vote for the person who is most likely to refrain from gutting my pension and my social security. And it damn sure ain't Mitch McConnell.

I mean, we're suppposed to be adults here. Ya can't vote for Repubs all the time and then when you retire with no social security cry, "Who knew, Sally Candidate didn't warn me."

[liberal_at_heart]

16. you can blame the voters all you want. It won't change how they vote. The only thing that will

change how they vote is having a choice that will improve their standard of living allowing them to eat, pay rent, pay their expensive ass deductibles and copays on their medical bills, send their kids to college, and retire. Right now neither party is helping do those things.

[arcane1]

27. I would love to change how the non-voters vote. That's where the action is :)

[JDPriestly]

33. We need to tax certain capital gains just like we tax earned income.

Maybe we could tax capital gains that exceed a certain sum like $200,000, something very large so that it does not discourage middle class investments, at the same rate that we tax earned income. Because when capital gains are that large, they probably make up a large part of the earner's income and making those gains is more that person's business than simply passive capital gains earnings would be. Those very large capital gains incomes are really earned income. They should be taxed as such. The person who invests his money as a business, as really a sort of job, should pay the same taxes on his earnings that a person who runs any other business should pay.

[dhill926]

6. The ineptness of the Dem leadership

Never ceases to amaze. The bi-polar nature of the countless email requests for $ was off putting and amateurish. We need new leadership who can articulate a progressive message. And stick to it…

[Odin2005]

29. The Dem "leadership is not inept, it is BOUGHT and PAID FOR by the 1%.

They do a perfect job as representing the capitalists who own them.

[JDPriestly]

34. So true. If they had spent half the time they spent on fundraising on communicating

and listening to voters, they might have done a lot better.

[workinclasszero]

7. So the public voted for progressive issues

Then elected bagger republicans that are totally opposed to those very same issues and will make damn sure they never happen??

WTF???

[Triana]

9. Yep. Can you believe it? Is America INSANE or what? n/t

[zeemike]

10. No not insane but angry.

And when people are angry they tend to hit the destruct button.

All we gave them is gay marriage and mandatory insurance...not what they were really looking for.
If we had fought for single payer and the public option we may have not passed anything but we would have been on record trying to be the change we were promised.

[liberal_at_heart]

11. +1

[woo me with science]

19. Thank you. When people have two terrible options,

they tend to lurch back and forth between them in protest. Or give up.

People realize that *neither* party is working for their interests.

No matter which party is elected, we keep getting the same overall direction of austerity, TPP, TISA, mass surveillance, "Kill Lists," indefinite detention, secret laws, secret courts, corporate education, drilling, fracking, new wars in Syria and Iraq, a TRILLION dollar ramping up of nuclear weapons when our president is signing ANOTHER round of food stamp cuts and a farm bill based on "pension smoothing." Not a single major banker in the mortgage collapse/theft held accountable, journalists and whistleblowers under assault, mass propaganda machines...It goes on and on and on.

People don't want to go in this direction. Seventy-six percent of them say we are going in the wrong direction. So they keep trying to switch parties, or trash it all and start over, but they keep getting the same direction anyway.

[zeemike]

21. And our great national shame (Gitmo) is still there in operation.

Six years after we elected a president that promised to close it.

If Obama cannot change that which is under his contol as CIC then you know he is powerless or just a liar...I go with powerless...and he is just making his place for him and his family in the power elite club.

[JDPriestly]

35. More important, if we really reformed the financial sector so that it worked for the good of the

country and all Americans and not just a few, we might have been on record for trying to be the change we promised.

The stock market is soaring, but if a 15-year-old kid tries to save a few dollars a week in one of the big, bailed-out banks, he may have to pay a fee of $25 per month just to get the bank to keep his few dollars. That should not be. Banks should be serving the public, not the other way around. Banks are not just ordinary businesses. Banks get bailed out. It's thanks to the FDIC insurance that people trust banks and put their money in bank accounts. Banks should be instructed that they have to perform certain public services including starting small savers on the path toward big savings accounts. A penny saved is a penny earned. And banks are where those pennies should be saved and earned. It is shameful that banks so greedily collect money from small account-holders.

[packman]

22. Yes, unbelievable

and when these progressive issues get nowhere in the next two years, more voter apathy, more voter disinterest in voting (both parties alike), more weariness with the whole thing. I see myself as a progressive and this is like running in quicksand and political masturbation - a somewhat enjoyable activity, but gets you nowhere and leaves a vacant feeling.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

23. Listen to the way Republicans and Dems campaigned....

Republicans campaigned as if they were Liberals and Dems campaigned as if they were Conservatives.

[malthaussen]

8. My theory is that states are legalizing pot because...

... they know they're going to need it as the GOP takes over everything.

This is seriously twisted, though. If progressive issues are popular, it should follow that people would vote against the candidates who openly oppose these issues.

Unless the voting machines are only set to flip votes for candidates, and not issues, because the candidates have no intention of listening anyway.

-- Mal

[tclambert]

13. This is what is getting to me today. Voters approved these progressive measures in very red states

yet voted for politicians who oppose these same measures. Something doesn't make sense there.

[JDPriestly]

36. Democrats are not appealing to voters' hearts.

Republicans appeal to the fear in voters' hearts -- the fear of the other who is different primarily.

[Springslips]

41. People don't vote for or against politicians based on issues.

And it does make sense. Vote for Salley Sue or Jim Regularguy because they will support issue X is a real loser, since many time issue X is never passed or even voted on. Salley and Jim often say one thing and do another, get hijacked by their party's machine to do the biding of elite interest, or have an opposition party that will thort any initiative. Even if they do move on issue-X the entire legislative process tends to water it down until it a hollow, piece of shit, made only to give Salley or Jim credit but not do anything all. People know this. So instead they vote on gut intinct, emotional feeling, and on identity politics--this is why there are so many mudslinging ads--people vote for politicians based on psychology.

But when they directly vote on an issue. They vote rationally and with compassion.

The progressive movement would be best to move a bit away from the crap of Washington and state capitals and focus on referendums like this. There should of been a referendum on MJ, min wage, overtime rules, ect in every f'n state Tuesday. But there wasn't. Moveon.com and the rest were too busy begging for money to fluff the coffers of their favorite hacks--and of course 'admrnestrative cost' --to do something worthwhile like that.

[ag_dude]

15. The icon for rejecting fetal personhood is a person holding a baby?

I would have voted against it as well but that's a pretty silly icon choice.

[Amonester]

17. Against the un-precedented TSUNAMI of so-called DaRk money?

No.Chance.

Not.One.

Not.Dot.Five.

Just.Zero.Chance.

[JEB]

18. Too busy being cute with triangles

and looking for the nonexistent middle ground.

[SoapBox]

20. Oh and don't forget sitting slack-jawed playing games

and texting.

Thanks for nothing Dems...WTF!

[treestar]

24. Probably they hear negatives about "the Democrats"

from FOX and CNN and MSNBC and a lot of Democrats.

The Democrats campaign on those issues. They get drowned out by the media and the naysaying Dems. People don't hear anything positive about those candidates.

[ErikJ]

25. Are politicians becoming irrelevant and useless?

We may have to pass ballot initiatives to get anything done for "we the people" in the future.

[Kalidurga]

26. I think Ballot Initiatives are the wave of the future.

We should be working to put progressive issues on every ballot in every state in the next two years and beyond. So that is what I am going to do, I am going to change course and go do this instead of what I am currently doing.

[JDPriestly]

37. Good idea.

Ballot initiatives not only allow voters to govern themselves thus changing to a sort of increase in direct democracy, but they give an excuse to those who strongly support the ballot initiatives to talk directly to voters. If this were to be done by effective Democratic volunteers, it could be an effective way to rebuild the Democratic Party around issues instead of personalities. Just a thought.

[Kalidurga]

38. You are right the focus should be on the issues rather than personality.

It is not how things are currently done. If this was how we elected representatives, then well I guess liberal policies would be the rule of the land.

[Odin2005]

28. Dem politicians cannot run on progressive issues without offending their corporate donors.

So they spew BS platitudes and weasel words rather than a unified progressive message.

[blkmusclmachine]

30. ,

,

[AgingAmerican]

31. But losers in the eyes of the third way Centrists

nt

[Bernardo de La Paz]

32. Mr. Fish: Sweet Jesus, what is it?

[NorthCarolina]

39. Here's the simple reality: Both Parties Suck

period

[ProSense]

40. Here are some details:

Minimum wage wins show the power of organizing

by Laura Clawson

Tuesday night was a bloodbath for Democratic politicians, but Democratic policies won some real victories at the state and local level. The minimum wage was the highest profile of those, and measures raising the minimum wage in four states and a pair of cities performed well, as expected:

In Alaska, a minimum wage increase led in early returns, winning 69 percent of the vote with 28 percent of precincts reporting.

The wage increase won its biggest margin of victory in Arkansas, where it garnered 65 percent of the vote. In Nebraska, 59 percent of voters approved raising the minimum wage, while in South Dakota, the margin was 53 percent.

Minimum wage initiatives also prevailed in San Francisco and Oakland, California.

These measures will bring in a wide range of new wages, from a low of $8.50 an hour in 2017 in Arkansas to San Francisco's high of $15 in 2018. And they will improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of workers, starting on January 1 in most cases. This matters enormously—and it will be a much-needed balm to workers who may well be hurt, going forward, by larger numbers of elected Republicans legislating against them.

These measures are also a powerful reminder of the importance of organizing. When fast food workers first started organizing and striking, with a $15 an hour wage as one of their centerpiece demands, it sounded outlandish even if you knew that in some American cities it still wasn't a living wage. Now, two American cities have passed $15 an hour. Washington, DC, is on its way to $11.50. Massachusetts is on its way to $11. Vermont is on its way to $10.50. Hawaii, Connecticut, and Maryland are on their way to $10.10. California is on its way to $10. These are real advances that would not have happened without working people fighting, and making demands that establishment politicians would never make and the media couldn't quite believe were real. Too much of the country is still left at the poverty wage of $7.25, thanks to a Congress that has not acted and definitely will not act. But the momentum toward something better is real, and it's coming from the streets and the workplaces.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/05/1342067/-Minimum-wage-wins-show-the-power-of-organizing

Gun Control Advocates Score Two Big Wins In Washington State

Voters in Washington state passed one initiative and rejected another on Tuesday, delivering two big victories to supporters of tougher gun laws.

Roughly 60 percent of voters backed Initiative Measure 594, which will close the so-called "gun show loophole" with an expansion of criminal background checks.

A rival measure that was backed by pro-gun groups was defeated by a wide margin. Only 45 percent of voters gave their support to Initiative Measure 591, which would have barred the state from requiring background checks beyond the national standard. A little more than 55 percent voted against I-591.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/washington-state-gun-control-election

Even In Deep Red States, Voters Reject Radical ‘Personhood’ Measures

The radical “personhood” movement was dealt a significant blow on Tuesday night, when voters in North Dakota and Colorado resoundingly defeated two ballot initiatives that would have redefined life to extend legal protections to fertilized eggs.

In Colorado, Amendment 67 — which sought to update the state’s criminal code to define fetuses as children — failed by a large 64 percent to 36 percent margin. It marks the third time that Colorado voters have rejected personhood.

Meanwhile, in North Dakota, an effort to overhaul the state’s constitution to protect “the inalienable right to life of every human being at any stage of development” looked like it was poised to pass. Personhood proponents were hopeful that the conservative state would hand them their first major victory, galvanizing the push for similarly restrictive laws in other states. But Amendment 1 was defeated by similarly wide margins as the initiative in Colorado.

Reproductive rights advocates are celebrating the defeat of both measures as an important victory against personhood, a strategy that’s so radical that it has begun to divide the anti-choice community.

- more -

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/11/05/3589112/voters-reject-personhood/

It Just Got A Little Easier For One Million Workers To Take Off Time When They’re Sick

Last night, four places in the United States voted over whether or not employers should be required to give paid sick leave to employees. All four approved the idea.

Massachusetts was the biggest win for paid sick leave advocates — the state is just the third in the nation to require employers grant people such paid time off, following California and Connecticut. The state was joined by three major municipalities: Trenton, NJ; Montclair, NJ; and Oakland, CA (though the state has a paid sick leave law, Oakland’s will expand on it). All told, the laws will impact more than one million workers.

These latest votes follow a recent uptick in guaranteed paid time off for the sick, which has found its way into law by any number of means, including ballot initiative, city ordinance, or legislation. At the end of last year, only one state and 6 cities had required paid sick leave. Now, the total is three states and 16 cities:

<...>

New Jersey in particular has been a beacon for paid sick leave initiatives, thanks to an organized campaign on the ground there. Organizers say they learned from New York City’s movement for paid sick leave, and have had success targeting not the state as a whole but rather progressive communities within it. “We agreed that it was going to be very difficult to get the governor to sign a statewide bill,” Phyllis Salowe-Kaye, the executive director of New Jersey Citizen Action, recounted to ThinkProgress’s Bryce Covert earlier this year. But “we had two quite progressive mayors in Jersey City and in Newark… We knew that they could institute it as an ordinance in their cities, as opposed to having to wait for a state bill.”

- more -

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/11/05/3589146/sick-leave-election-2014/