Lessons from Election Day
- Nov 10, 2010 -
Political pundits are eagerly trying to explain—or explain away—the Election Day earthquake. The storyline centers on the upsurge in voting for Republican candidates for the House and Senate, as well as for governors’ mansions and state houses. The largely untold story, however, centers on the numerous victories on social issues on the ballot.
From marriage and the courts to marijuana and health care, the American people delivered multiple blows to a liberal-driven agenda. In Iowa, the people determined to take back their state Supreme Court run amok. By healthy margins, Iowans voted to unseat three of the seven judges who ruled last year to impose same-sex “marriage” on the Hawkeye State. This marks the first time in history that Iowans have removed a sitting judge. It might not be the last. Voters will have opportunity to decide the futures of the remaining four on the bench in later elections when their eight-year terms expire.
Oklahomans tried to keep tight reins on their courts as well. With more than 70 percent in favor, they voted to stop their judges from taking international law or Islamic law, known as Sharia, into consideration in their decisions. Citation of international law by some courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, largely prompted the state constitutional amendment. The final authorities, they rightly argue, should be the Constitution and laws of the United States. Some critics of the ban, however, contend that the law specifically targets Islam. In light of such a challenge, a federal judge has since blocked the people’s decision.
Marijuana initiatives also went up in smoke. In one of the most anticipated ballot initiatives on social issues, Californians wisely voted down Proposition 19 (54-46), which would have legalized the growth, sale, and recreational use of marijuana. Under Prop 19, workers would have been permitted even to smoke pot on the job, so long as it would not impair their work. That includes doctors and airline pilots. Drivers, too, could legally get behind the wheel while impaired by the drug. The potential number of lives spared, thanks to the defeat of Prop 19, is inestimable. As expected, proponents of marijuana on demand are already gearing up for better financed battle in 2012.
The voters of two other states—Arizona and South Dakota—gave thumbs down to legalizing marijuana for medicinal use. Maybe they have been taking notes on how other states have fared under legalization of what many consider to be a gateway drug to more dangerous narcotics. Greater accessibility means greater numbers of people, especially youth, getting their hands on the dangerous drug. Other societal ills follow. Montana, for example, has seen a spike from 842 to 20,000 registrants for medicinal marijuana in the last two years under its 2004 law. Meanwhile, in Oregon, voters shot down an initiative Nov. 2 to expand the state’s current medicinal marijuana law to allow farming and selling of the plant.
Aspects of health care reform faced a referendum as well. Citizens in three states—Arizona, Oklahoma and Colorado—had opportunity to express their feelings on the health care law rammed through Congress. Arizona and Oklahoma each supported an exemption from the mandate that almost everyone purchase health insurance or else face a fine. A similar initiative lost in a divided vote in Colorado. Nationwide, the number of people upset over Obamacare has not budged. Exit polling by Rasmussen shows that 59 percent of voters favor its repeal.
To be sure, not every ballot initiative fared well. But taken together, affirmation of pro-family values carried the day. A lesson for elected officials—both the newly minted and the old guard—may be found in the public’s sensible response to the social issues on which they are often silenced. Time will tell whether Washington got the message.
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