Social Issues vs. Economics

Indie

I’d prefer something stable and working for economic benefit of all rather than the system you would seem to prefer that would basically only serve the interests of wealth.

Try reading – Utopia, no just Keynes
http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/showthread.php?t=328353

 

National-level generalizations can make for interesting reading, but will be of limited value as long as the US has its old electoral college system in place. Every state has its own history and set of circumstances, and has to be looked at individually by anyone who is serious about winning a national election.

Voter turnout may indeed be a major issue in Pennsylvania and Ohio. With plenty of blue collar industrial workers, Pennsylvania used to be a state that Democrats could always count on, like New York. Now it always goes the other way. Ohio should be firmly Democratic due to its economy, but always seems to be in play. Both states carry enough electoral votes to be very significant in close elections.

Florida proved decisive in the Bush-Gore election, but it has very unusual demographics. Most older voters (the largest voting block) are retirees from the Northeast, but most of the blue collar workers are younger Hispanics. Florida's economy is about tourism, retirement living, and agriculture, so it has no industrial culture to speak of.

Professor Bartel's assertion is surely not true for most of the Southeast, where the Republican Party used to be so small as to be irrelevant. When I was a kid, most North Carolina Democrats ran unopposed in the November general elections. The primary was all that mattered. The GOP gained momentum in the typical Southern state only when working voters became frustrated with Jimmy Carter's perceived lack of leadership ability, and with runaway inflation and interest rates during his term. Reagan won because he was not Jimmy Carter, and the Republican Party became a viable contender in the old Confederacy -- now a larger regional block of votes than New England.

Virginia is likely to be an important battleground state this year. It's hard to understand or predict Virginia because the state is more or less a collection of different regions with nothing in common; nothing holding it together anymore except lines drawn on a map. For example, the heavily populated north is a part of the Washington metro area, and is not a part of Southern culture at all. Norfolk's economy is all military, the west is all coal mining, and the nearly empty center is agricultural. Roanoke is like a rustbelt town. Who can say what the average Virginia voter cares about?

California is the biggest single-state prize of all, but I haven't followed its situation closely enough to understand why it has switched parties during my lifetime. It probably has the least in common with other US states.

 

That would be a job producing something for a profit. The interest of my own wealth is what motivated me to work, and those with wealth are a great source for others to earn what they could truly call their fair share as a result.

 

Good post.

About abortion, though the battle IS ongoing in individual states, it's only by shortsighted state politicians (....hence the STATE part) who don't understand that once they do it, it will only win them ONE election, while if they don't do anything about it, it will win EVERY election, for EVER. On a federal level, didn't republicans have what it would have taken to get it through, under bush? Didn't it just mysteriously NOT come up during the time they could have made a federal law on it?

 

Throughout this campaign season, Republicans continued to appear brain-dead with respect to the social issues that women most often care about. And it may have cost them the Presidency. According to national exit polls, women voted for Obama over Romney 55/44%, while men went against him 45/52%.

Besides the social issues aspect of voting for political candidates, there were also a number of social issue ballot initiatives voted on yesterday in various states.

Gay marriage: passed in Maryland, Maine, and Washington.

Recreational marijuana use: passed in Colorado and Washington, failed in Oregon.

Medical marijuana: passed in Massachusetts, failed in Arkansas.

Abortion funding: will continue to be available in Florida.

Death penalty: will continue in California.

There were no state ballot initiatives this year pertaining to gun control or the separation of church and state.

 

The evangelicals have really pushed the limits of separation of church and state. I have watched (but not for long) them warning their dumm--I mean adherants how dangerous it would be to re-elect Obama. Their tax free status should be taken away from them,but I guess no one has the pelotes to enforce it. Actually I think ALL churches should pay taxes on tithing. Even waitresses have to pay a certain % of freely given tips, whether received or not.