Friday, November 5, 2010

Savoring the Election Results

Still in a celebratory mood after Tuesday? Can't say that
I blame you, my loyal readers, as I am of that mindset
myself.

Here are the highlights of the 2010 election and your
faithful Peasant's take on them:

Here in Badgerland (Wisconsin) we took back the governor's
office by electing Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker
(R) to replace James "Diamond Jim" Doyle (D), a very liberal
Democrat who wisely declined to seek a third term after jacking
taxes up to the sky, regulating businesses almost out of business
thus causing some businesses to leave Wisconsin and others to
rethink moving or expanding into our state, and forcing a high-
speed rail line with trains to boot upon us over our loud and
repeated objections (gee, doesn't that tactic sound familiar?).
Doyle was elected and re-elected by scant margins to begin with,
so he has long been skating on rather thin ice; he decided to put
his skates away upon seeing the writing on the wall in the months
before the election, and Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett (D) ran
in his place. We saw Barrett as Doyle version 2.0 so we said
"no thanks" and chose Walker, a proven foe of confiscatory
taxation and a proven friend of job creation and retention.
He's a solid all-around conservative as well! Furthermore,
we took both chambers of our state legislature! Scott Walker
will have a cooperative legislature to work with, so he can
undo the damage that Doyle and Company have done to our
state's economy and business climate. Walker announced in
his victory speech "Wisconsin is open for business!". About
time! We must replace the many jobs that have either moved
out of state or have died from suffocation from the smothering
of overregulation and relentless taxation.

We also elected Oshkosh businessman Ron Johnson (R) over
incumbent Russ Feingold (D) for the contested U.S. Senate seat.
A Striking observation: Both races were decided by the same
percentages of votes cast for each candidate! Walker and Johnson
each received 52% of the entire vote to their Democrat opponents'
47% of same, with 1% going to thirs party and/or independent
candidates. But take a look at the county-by-county results; each
of the Dems were lucky to get between 10 and 20 counties out of
the 72 counties in the state!

Also, we now have a GOP majority in our state's delegation to the
U.S. House; incumbent Steve Kagan (D) lost by 55% to 45% to
Republican Reid Ribble in the District 8 contest, while GOP choice
Sean Duffy defeated Democrat Julie Lassa 52% to 44% (4% to
a third party candidate) to represent District 7 in the House of
Representatives. The other seats' races  had predictable results,
with the incumbents all winning new terms (yes, Dan Sebring lost
in District 4 despite a gallant effort. Hopefully he'll run again for
public office in the future).

Around the country we saw Republicans take back the House
with a gain of 61 seats, nearly completely reversing the margin
there, established in 2008 with the Obama victory; that election
gave the Dems 257 seats to the GOP's 178. The count now
shall be 239 for the Republicans to 185 for Obama's pals.
Although we didn't take the Senate, we did cut the Dem's
margin by about seven seats; I say this because two of the
senate races is still being decided in the counting of the votes
in what proved to be extremely tight races. In Alaska, Joe
Miller (R) is neck-and-neck with spite-in (er, write-in)
candidate and incumbent Lisa Murkowski, whom he beat
for the GOP nod to run on that ticket. Washington is seeing
who will emerge the victor between incumbent Sen. Patty
Murray (D) and challenger Dino Rossi (R). Sadly, former
state legislator Sharron Angle lost a narrow race to Sen.
Harry Reid (D), who also happens to be the Senate Majority
Leader. Although it was a bitter moment in an otherwise happy
evening, ol' Dingy Harry (as Rush Limbaugh calls him) will find
it much harder to muster the votes that President Obama will
need to get any more of his Big Government programs passed
in the Senate. Angle was a strong and articulate candidate with
principled conservatism, and we hope that we'll see more of her
in a future campaign for elected office. Christine O'Donnell (R) lost
her bid for the open senate seat from Delaware by a decisive
margin to Democrat Chris Coons. The latter was hand-picked
by Vice President Joe Biden, who had held that senate seat at
the time of his election to the Vice Presidency, to be his successor,
and Coons looks to be every bit the tax-and-spend fanatic that
Biden is. O'Donnell, who was dogged by some controversial
stories from her past, some being blown out of proportion but
some not, lost another race for a U.S. Senate seat from her
home state, and another race for an elected office period, did
her best but she is now so politically damaged that she should
make her future in the private sector. A sad ending to a political
career of a dedictaed conservative.

The Republican tide included claiming many governorships and
state legislatures around the country as well. It was truly open
season on Democrats, especially those who hitched their wagons
to Obama's now rapidly dimming star. This is what comes of the
arrogance of power in government, where those in office think
themselves smarter than and superior to the people who put them
there. The moral of this story is plain: ignore the people at your
peril, for those who elected you can un-elect you in a trice.
Disrespect the electorate, dictate to them, talk down to them,
and you are destroying your political careers. For in our republic,
where we elect representatives to speak and act for us in our
government, we are the ultimate rulers; we are the boss. The
folks we elect serve at our pleasure, and when they no longer
serve us well we can, and shall, replace them.

Note to Democrats and RINOs: That's the way it is. Live with it!


MEM
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