Well, as you probably all know, I have mixed feelings about the latest election. It certainly will be nice to put the neo-con (read: statist) trend into check, but as government seems to go these days, I have a feeling the Democrats might start creating more government (the latest greatest gov’t program!) without actually cutting anything (you don’t win votes by cutting programs that the average person has forgotten about but do help the select few).

So, I’ll stay optimistic and take solace in the fact that the Libertarians have in fact been gaining some ground (as have all 3rd parties!)… for instance we had 168 candidates in Texas and we Jason Blair got 26% of the vote for the House in Arizona and Camden McConnell picked up 17% for a House seat in California… not too shabby.

What I find more interesting, is the results of various high profile referendums around the country, which tend to be a lot more telling of what people actually think and want than the smiling politicians they elect…

Across the board it seems that states have been outlawing same-sex unions and raising the minimum wage… yuck! Colorado decided not to legalize marijuana, but it was a 60/40 split… it was even closer in Nevada.

On a better note, however, things like a crazy scheme to fund alternate energy by taxing energy companies and “prohibiting” them from passing the tax onto consumers in California got voted down as did parental notification. Also, Michigan banned affirmative action! No longer can the state universities discriminate or grant preferential treatment based on race, sex, etc… Also, in a surprise twist, South Dakota voted down its own initiative to ban abortion.

So there’s good and bad. People may still be afriad of gays, stoners, and economics but at least they aren’t rascist (or are they?) and support at least a few civil liberties.