I am overall very happy with last nights election results. I’m not here to gloat, but to rather provide my take on what happened last night. This is in no way a deep analysis of the 4 issues listed, but I do plan to expand 2 of them in later posts.

Rejection of the Far Right

The far far right crazies took a big hit last night. Todd Akin (claimed women can’t get pregnant from rape) and Richard Murdock (said babies resulting after a rape were a gift from god) were both thankfully defeated. Florida tea partier Allen West also lost. The thing is, Mitt Romney, faired far better than the Tea Party element of the Republican party. I really liked some of Mitt Romney’s ideas including a simpler tax code. The problem was the party behind him. Americans definitely want a conservative party, but we do not want a group of far right nut jobs running this country.

Hopefully the Republican party can regroup after this election and find itself. It needs to move away from the religious right and start accepting science. Climate change is happening. Evolution is a real thing. And yes, women can get pregnant after getting raped. The fact that was even in question is baffling to me. Republicans, find a leader. Don’t let Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin be the spokespeople for your party. Someone needs to step up.

Women in the Senate

Here is some news that everyone can be happy about. We will now have 20 women Senators. This is a new all time high up from 17 in the outgoing Senate. These 20 women only make up 20% of the Senate, but progress is progress.

End the War on Drugs

Colorado and Washington both passed measures to legalize marijuana for recreational use. Hopefully we are one step closer to ending the expensive un-winnable war on drugs. It’s time to treat drug addiction as a public health problem instead of a criminal justice problem. If you want to know more about why it will be a slow path towards full legalization, I suggest you watch The Union. It’s a great documentary on Netflix that shows all the parties that have a vested interest in keeping drugs illegal.

End the Electoral College

We need to get rid of the Electoral College. It is an an anachronism that resulted from a compromise at the constitutional convention. The fact that almost all of the campaign efforts were spent in a few battleground states is very telling. It’s very unfair when no matter if 51% or 100% of a state votes for a certain candidate, that he/she gets all of the states electoral votes.

One More Thing

Forward.