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photo: Just Us 3 (flickr)
There’s nothing that the people running campaigns in downticket races fear more than a tidal wave at the top of the ticket. Some voters will be discouraged at being swept away by the wave, and won’t come to the polls. Other voters, excited to be part of the wave, will come and vote in that big race and maybe a couple more, but then leave the booth and neglect the other races entirely.
But next week, which seems destined to turn DC into gridlock once more, may prove the importance of those downticket races.
Foreclosure fraud: If your state is electing an attorney general, the results on Tuesday may determine how weak or strong a voice you will have in standing up to robosigners, filers of false affidavits and legal papers in courts, and other unscrupulous legal practices engaged in by the financial industry. Having a state AG willing to stand up for the rule of law, rather than the convenience of the banks, may be the best safeguard any homeowner could ask for, given the lack of any meaningful federal oversight.
Health insurance reform: The absence of a public option, the continued ban on drug reimportation, and the shackles placed on Medicare that prevent them from negotiating prices more strongly all combine to neuter the market forces that might have reined in PhRMA and Big Insurance. For people angry over the whole mess, what’s left? State regulation. Some states are scrambling to improve their regulatory structures for the new system, while others are more prepared for it. If your state has an election for state insurance commissioner (or whatever the chief regulator is called), this may be the biggest election no one is talking about. Rules will be set for the state insurance exchanges, escalating rate requests will have to be approved, and a thousand and one details will have to be dealt with. Since DC punted on holding back PhRMA and Big Insurance, state insurance commissioners will have to.
School boards: Beyond the headlines garnered when the Texas Board of Education tries to rewrite history, or when Kansas TheoCons try to play God and remake science in their own image, school boards don’t get a lot of press. But when states and local governments are cutting budgets left and right, school boards are one of the big places that feel the pinch, and the disasters that can result from bad school policies are, well, disastrous. Maintenance gets deferred, pink slips go out, and everything gets squeezed as administrators try to stretch things as far as they can. Local school boards matter, and the more of a mess things are at the national and state levels, the more critical having a good local school board becomes.
I could go on and on — city council elections, bond issues, local zoning issues, regulation of puppy mills, etc. Top-ticket races get the headlines, but when times are rough, it’s the local races that may matter more. Most folks still have a couple of days to find a sample ballot, look past the top tier races, and dig into the critical things buried down below.
It’s worth the effort. The house, the health, and the schools you save may be your own.
(photo h/t: Just Us 3)
11 Comments
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Thanks for this view. I missed our Early Voting, and for the first time in a looong time, I have been thinking about not voting. Our Guv and Rep races, however, are very important. Of course, you’re right….Thanks, again.
It’s very important to vote, especially on the local and state-wide issues and candidates, as you mentioned.
In CA, there are always initiatives that make it even more pressing to vote. I voted. As for candidates, I often voted for Green Party candidates (who I researched). I know they won’t win, but I’d love to see them getting ever higher percentages of the votes; not sure what will happen this year.
I voted D, if I felt the candidate was worthy, and some Ds are worthy at the state and local level, for sure.
I urge all citizens to exercise their right to vote. It’s very important, and there are always choices for whom you can vote.
Urge you to vote, esp at the local and state level. There are still some decent candidates out there.
I debated long and hard about who to vote for in CA Senate race & decided to vote for the Green candidate, Duane Roberts. No way would I ever vote for the execrable corporate entitlement Queen, Carly Fiorina, but I am sooooo disappointed in lackluster Boxer that I felt no wish to “waste” my vote on her.
There are other choices. GOTV.
GREAT post Peterr. Thx.
Everyone should vote – no matter who they vote for. It’s a right, a privilege and a duty. Exercise it.
Excellent piece, Peterr!
The perfect example of this is the 2005 special election for the OH-02 congressional seat. That seat was considered among the safest Republican seats in the country, so much so that Bush felt he could appoint the then-incumbent Portman to a spot in the White House without fearing the seat’s flipping into Democratic hands.
Then Paul Hackett came along, and, with the aid of the blogosphere, made the Republicans sweat for that seat. They eventually did win it (Mean Jean Schmidt occupies it now), but the presence of Hackett and the excitement generated got enough people to the polls to pass a whole raft of important levy issues that had been languishing for years.
So even though Hackett didn’t win, he left Ohio’s Second Congressional in better shape than it was before he started.
The instrument has yet to be invented that is capable of measuring my annoyance with the last two years. But I do not have to face billy clubs, fire hoses and attack dogs to exercise my rights. Some have though, in my lifetime, and a very short distance from where I write this.
It may not appear so, but we live in a mansion of democracy, built upon the shoulders of the giants who did face the club, the hose and the dog. The very minimum I can do, the very minimum, is to pay the light bill for this mansion. Vote.
Awesome post, Peterr.
Here’s another underscoring of the facts which should provide us all an extra measure of motivation:
- from “Triple Down: Fannie, Freddie, and the Triumph of the Corporate State,” by Christopher Whalen, Oct. 27, 2010 (hattip ZeroHedge.Com)
Perhaps of interest, a Danish business contact months ago said they didn’t see the US economy rebounding until, perhaps, 2014. What that also tells me is that this is quite the planned and advised approach toward the US economy and not just by our bankers.
Thank you Peterr.
When American’s self interest is at odds with corporate self interest you had better vote. Corporations now have an advantage as did slaveowners…
Great point about the foreclosure fraud mess. I’m glad to say I already voted for Ohio Attorney General Cordray, who has been at the forefront in investigating that sort of thing. Of course, Corporate America is doing their best to replace him with former Senator DeWine, who Sherrod Brown defeated 4 years ago. They have flooded the airwaves with attack ads Politifact has branded as “False,” and the outcome will likely be very close.
If DeWine wins, the banksters and fraudsters win; consumers and homeowners lose. If Cordray wins, the latter have a chance. It’s that simple.
I have grown to detest Obama, but I proudly voted FOR Cordray.