November 07, 2012

About nothing

So I stood in line for an hour to add a purely symbolic +1 to the vote totals. Chaffetz (House), Hatch (Senate) and Herbert (governor) won by ginormous margins. And every news organization on the planet gave Romney the state the microsecond the polls closed.

Of course, nobody moves to Utah County for the political drama. Jim Matheson squeaked by Mia Love in the 4th district, which made me laugh. Every ten years, the Utah legislature does its level best to gerrymander Salt Lake's liberal precincts out of existence.

They stab it with their steely knives,
but they just can't kill the beast.

One of my fantasy constitutional amendments would require that House districts be apportioned based on the local and existing political boundaries. Salt Lake County is going to vote democratic. It just elected a democratic mayor (again). Live with it, guys.

Nationally, social conservatives were very often their own worst enemy, and that includes Romney, who couldn't quite flip the flop. I'm hoping that this election will invigorate fiscal conservatives and economic libertarians, happy to leave such matters to the states.

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Comments
# posted by Anonymous Dan
11/07/2012 6:59 PM   
The issue is not being morally conservative. The problem is when the morally conservative politician recommends criminal punishment for those who do not agree with his morality. Bush W was extremely morally conservative - more so than any national Republican politician I ever knew. Yet W was careful in not grouping those with differing views as criminals.

Labeling abortion as murder creates multiple unsolvable conflicts, especially as a matter of criminal justice. As we have seen, those who advocate that view find themselves twisted in knots when rape is added to the equation. Believing abortion is wrong (in most cases) is different than claiming it is murder.

BTW, for all the grief the media gave Bush it must come as a surprise that he outperformed Obama in winning a second term. Bush got more total votes and a greater percentage of the vote, albeit slight. If Bush was a polarizing president what is Obama? Interesting that the media does not see it that way.
# posted by Blogger Joe
11/07/2012 7:21 PM   
Mia Love had nothing to say except "I'm not Matheson." Matheson is actually a pretty good representative, so that didn't fly. What puzzles me the most is how Love got crowned as THE tea party candidate. Based on what, exactly? As the anti-Love ads pointed out (with great exaggeration, but the gist was still correct); as mayor, she's not a staunch fiscal conservative. (I continue to believe that Utahns are less socially conservative in general that their stereotype.)

The big question is whether Matheson is going to run for Senate next or governor.