A nervous election eve

Reading the comments section below my post this morning makes me, well, really sad.  The thread stays open, but I'm not in the mood to comment there further.  Sometimes, the width and breadth of the cultural divide in this country breaks my heart.

Anyhow, prediction time:

I don't suppose I'm likely to be right, but here's my national election prediction.  (Here are my California endorsements):

The Dems get five seats in the US Senate, one short of what's needed for control.  We do recapture the House, but with a slim majority -- say 222 seats.  I don't want to be greedy. 

I am very nervous this evening!  It will be a very long day tomorrow, and I will be up late into the night monitoring returns.  If things go "our" way, I will be up later than if we are to be disappointed.  If that is the case, an earlier and sad bed for me.  The chinchillas will be comforting me regardless.

I haven't had a "good" general election since 1998.  2000, 2002, and 2004 were all crushingly disappointing, albeit in different ways each time.  It has been eight long years since that impeachment-era triumph, when we collectively rebuked the right for over-reaching in their response to the Lewinsky scandal.  That seems another world ago.  We're overdue for a celebration!

That said, no matter what, I promise not to be bitter in defeat or maliciously gleeful in victory.  True, I want  Rick Santorum out of the Senate with every fiber of my being.  But I don't hate him.  I've spent much of my life loving conservatives; conservatives have shared my bed and my breakfast table; conservatives are among my dearest and closest friends.  Around election time, there are many in my life to whom I can say: "I love you, and I am going to the polls tomorrow to cancel your vote!"  (Technically, I  can only cancel one set of Republican votes.  But who can say which one?)

Please don't mistake a commitment to geniality as a sign of a lack of genuine conviction. On November 18, for example, my Trojan wife and I will watch the Cal-USC game together; I will desperately want Cal to win.  I will root, in a sense, for my wife's heart to be broken.  But my love for her and my intense dislike of her beloved alma mater's sports team can coexist without the slightest shred of cognitive dissonance!  Similarly, I think we ought to seek out ways to be loving to our political opponents without compromising our ideological commitments.  As I've said to many a loved one:

I adore you.  I really, really, hope you lose.  And win or lose, I'm gonna love ya regardless. 

I can't imagine anyone not doing the same.

Comments

[aphrael]

That is, I think, how Democracy is supposed to work.

[The Gonzman]

We're all going to lose - no matter which front-group of the Republicrat Party wins, it is going to be a continual slide into less freedom.

Ask yourself this, Hugo - with all the seesawing back and forth over the last five decades, what has really changed? What has really been rolled back? One branch of the party calls the other "evil" and takes control - and while they push an agenda forward, what of the same things they called names do they actually roll back? At least in a meaningful way?

Come on - you know parlaimentary procedure and RRO as well as I do.

A syphilitic pox on both their houses, and great, head-shaking pity for the sheeple who actually fall for their baloney.

We'd all be a lot better off if more lamp-posts than podiums were decorated with politicians.

[The Gonzman]

And may each and every one of the Gods and all our ancestors help us if we ever live in a "Democracy." Talk about two wolves and a lamb voting on what's for dinner. I can't think of a political system more spawned from hell that "Democracy."

[aphrael]

Winston Churchill is reputed to have claimed that democracy is the worst form of government except for all of the other ones. That would summarize my view: democracy has its flaws, but the flaws of the other options are greater.

[The Gonzman]

I don't know where you may live, but my country purports itself to be a constitutional republic, not a democracy.

[Terry]

Well Hugo.....

I'm hoping your heart will be broken, tomorrow.
We will cancel each others votes, but my kids will bring it back to the right.

The Democrats that have been running this state are profoundly destructive human beings. The Democratic Party is undoing the American Revolution.
Getting rid of Gray Davis was a monumental improvement.

Prop. 85. Imagine it's YOUR daughter. Wouldn't you want to know? I would.

Prop. 86. Would create a black market for tobacco; one could just get it from out of state, and it would put legitimate, legal cigar shops out of business. (That's just what we need, to stick it to small business.) "We will tax what you do, because we don't like what you do." This prop. is IMMORAL. (BTW...I don't use tobacco.)

Jerry Brown appointed Rose Bird to the California Supreme Court.
Rose Bird reversed 100% of the 58 death penalty cases.
Rose Bird used her power to reverse or overturn 61 death penalty convictions (including cop killers).
Jerry Brown denied knowing Rose Bird's philosophy on the death penalty. He said he NEVER talked with her about it. You believe that?

Jerry Brown refused to sign the "Victim's Bill Of Rights".
29 police officers were shot and killed while in the line of duty in '73-'74. Jerry Brown vetoed AB 3272, which would have required the bullet proof vest be made available to police officers and sheriffs throughout the state.

Jerry Brown refused to invoke a state statute that would allow him (the governor) to revoke the parole of Jimmy Smith (The Onion Field incident).

Jerry Brown signed a law to do away with the valuable "Indeterminate Sentencing Law".

Jerry Brown spoke out against the
execution of William Bonin (found guilty of murdering 14 teen-
agers and admitted to killing 21).

Jerry Brown supported the amazing
INMATES Bill of Rights. Jerry Brown said... "William Bonin was
sent to his death, MURDERED by the state, by our representatives."

Jerry Brown said he would NEVER support the death penalty.

Jerry Brown said, "There's nothing wrong with being an anarchist." *Speaking to the International Transportation Association (6-10-95).

Jerry Brown said, "The U.S. incarceration BINGE is not tied to crime. It's a strategy to control the surplus population in a capitalist system that is breaking down." *Wall Street Journal (8-10-99).

Jerry Brown said, "Putting more felons in jail is an "old fix" that has been tried by every governor."
* Fresno Bee 5-6-94.

Jerry Brown used his political power to impose his leftist ideology to ruin the state of California. His policies created havoc on the streets and in the court system.

By the way, then Attorney General George Deukmejian wrote
the "Use A Gun Go To Prison" legislation. Politically, Brown
had no choice but to sign it.

On Friday, October 27, 2006 a Sacramento County Sheriff was shot and killed by some murderous loser. http://www.odmp.org/officer.php?oid=18563
I wonder if Jerry Brown favors executing the worthless piece of junk who did it?

Tom McClintock is a genuine, decent, honest man.
Isn't this what we want in our elected officials?

Well, at least we agree on Prop. 1E.
Geez.............

[MissPrism]

Terry - hopefully your daughter trusts you enough that she would feel able to tell you without legal compulsion. Some daughters are not so lucky.

If I'd got pregnant as a teenager, and my stepfather had found out, I have no doubt at all that he would have beaten me severely.

[Technocracygirl]

We'd all be a lot better off if more lamp-posts than podiums were decorated with politicians.

Do you really believe this, Gonz? I mean, really?

I hate and despise Santorum, but I wouldn't want to see him dead at the hands of a lynch mob. I hate and despise George W. Bush, but I'd rather see him tribunaled for international war crimes in a fair court than lynched at the hands of an angry mob.

No, advocating vigilante justice isn't the same as doing it, but the more that people think that sort of thing is okay, the closer we go back to the days of strange fruit.

[Hugo]

Actually, Terry, replacing Gray Davis with Arnold Schwarzenegger was indeed a monumental improvement. We do agree! Schwarzenegger has appointed many good Democrats to the bench, signed minimum wage, global warming, dog leash, and gay rights laws, and paroled ten times more murderers in his first three years than Davis did in his five. Not perfect, mind you, but probably to the left of old Gray on a number of issues.

[Barbara P]

Haha - I got to experience the special joy this morning of voting against Santorum.

Yay!

And as wonderful as that was, I hope that I never have to do it again (because if he's not actually a candidate, I can't exactly vote against him, now can I?)

It's also been my experience that the way I vote often (though not always) ends up matching the actual results. I'm a good Philly suburb voter - a.k.a. "utterly unpredicatable". (Or maybe...I AM the silent majority. HA HA HA!) Not sure what all this says about me, but I suppose it's good news for people who dislike Santorum.

[Tam]

I voted this morning on Colorado. I got to simultaneously vote against a state constitutional amendment limiting marriage to straight people and for a referendum to create civil unions for same-sex couples. I hope the overall vote will match me today, on those issues if not the many others on the ballot. And I hope the paper-trail-free voting machine I used actually correctly tabulates and reports my vote.

In other races, I voted about 80% Democat, 20% Republican. And of course I voted for the Democratic House candidate.

[Terry]

"...hopefully your daughter trusts you enough that she would feel able to tell you without legal compulsion. Some daughters are not so lucky."

MissPrism,
My question to Hugo was hypothetical; neither of us have underage daughters. (Mine is an adult.)
Imagining oneself with a particular dilemma can add clarity for making intelligent decisions. So far, he hasn't answered. How about you, would you want to know?
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"If I'd got pregnant as a teenager, and my stepfather had found out, I have no doubt at all that he would have beaten me severely."

Why would you stay in a home where you could be "beaten severely"?
Do you think your own personal situation is the rule,... or the exception?
Do you think MOST parents would want to help their daughters make the right decision, or .............just beat them severely?
What if there are complications from the procedure?
When do they call the parents?
Wait till she bleeds out?
Well at least she wouldn't have to worry about being "beaten severely"....

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Have you read the proposition? If a minor has a domestic predicament as you suggest, there are provisions, to avoid informing potentially violent parents/guardians.

"*Permits minor to obtain court order waiving notice based on clear and convincing evidence of minor’s maturity or best interests."

http://www.voterguide.ss.ca.gov/props/prop85/prop85.html

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[MissPrism]

haha, yes, I'm sure it would be a trifling thing to apply for a court order. Just as trifling as leving an abusive home! A piece of cake, nay, light cream-filed patisserie.

I'm not American, so no, I haven't read the whole proposition. But 90% or so of pregnant teenagers already do tell their parents; I suspect the other 10% have a damn good reason not to confide.