Elections - Good and Bad
So, the elections are over and Bush finally saw the middle finger that we've all been waving at him for some time now because the entire country used it to vote with. This was a good thing. So, like any teenager having a kegger, he reailzed Mom and Dad have just pulled into the driveway and he decided to blame / fire Rumsfeld. "It's his fault - he brought the beer!!" Bonus!!!
On the bad side. Locally, our election was no surprise, except for the ballot measures. Oregonians on the whole voted stupidly this last election. Mind you, these are not the candidates at issue here, but the measures. We voted against state term limits, voted for free prescription drug coverage for rich people, and voted to have only judges from the two major metropolitan areas make the decisions about the rural areas of Oregon. We voted against being informed if our child is having an abortion - she can't get a mole removed at the doctors or even take an aspirin at school without our permission, but she can get an abortion and it's not our business (this was not even an anti-abortion measure - it was anti-parents). We voted that insurance companies should continue using our credit rating as a guide for our rates, instead of using our actual loss / claims records. Example, we have moderate credit and pay would $45 a month to insure a 1987 Dodge Caravan. My folks have sparkling credit and are paying $17 a month to insure that same exact car - and with more coverage. We, neither me nor my husband, have not had any claims, losses, accidents, or even so much as a speeding ticket in the last 11 years. My parents have had, together, 3 speeding tickets, and two accidents in the same time period. AND YET... because their credit rating is excellent, they pay nearly $20 a month less than we would to insure the same car against ACCIDENTS! If the insurance company was a LENDER, then they would have a reason to base the rates on credit ratings. But, they are an insurer against accidents / losses and other claims. My credit should be none of their ^%$$%@#!!!! business!!!!! We're low-income and our credit will never shine, no matter how well I manage our money (and I do manage it well). So, I am angry because the voters decided to continue punishing the poor with high costs for insurance, and reward the rich, who wreck their expensive cars, with cheaper rates.
^*%$%^#$%*&*%*!#$*&^#%^$#$$%$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We also voted against putting a reasonable spending cap on government - we voted against a measure that would have regulated the legislature by stating that you can only increase the budget by the percent of increase in population, and the increase in inflation combined. We even more stupidly voted down a measure which would amend our state constiution to allow laws to be made about campaign spending. The subsequent measure, which is to be a law that limits campaign spending, passed, but is now unconstitutional because the amedment measure did not pass. We have a bunch of arrogant dummies here in this state. I'm sorry, but that's basically it. They saw the words "Amends Constitution" and freaked out and voted "no" automatically. They couldn't be bothered to read the actual text and comprehend that it was vital to the following measure. And, they were too arrogant to let it be known that they didn't understand that - God forbid they ask a question!!! OOPS - can't say GOD forbid - it might infringe on someone's religious freedoms.
While I am happy about the turnovers in the federal house and senate, as well as the democratic dominance in my own state legislature, I am genuinely ANGRY at the blind idiocy that the constituancy tends to display when it comes to ballot measures. I would love for the voter's books to be written in plain English and not a dialect of legal-confusion. Maybe that would help the voters understand the measurs. But, that would require a vote of the people, and, quite frankly, they wouldn't understand the measure because it would still be written in non-plain English. Kind of a dog chasing its own tail kind of thing.
And, it's not going to get better because we are doing a worse-than-poor job of educating our kids now than was done when the current generations of voters were educated. The days of progress are gone.
On the bad side. Locally, our election was no surprise, except for the ballot measures. Oregonians on the whole voted stupidly this last election. Mind you, these are not the candidates at issue here, but the measures. We voted against state term limits, voted for free prescription drug coverage for rich people, and voted to have only judges from the two major metropolitan areas make the decisions about the rural areas of Oregon. We voted against being informed if our child is having an abortion - she can't get a mole removed at the doctors or even take an aspirin at school without our permission, but she can get an abortion and it's not our business (this was not even an anti-abortion measure - it was anti-parents). We voted that insurance companies should continue using our credit rating as a guide for our rates, instead of using our actual loss / claims records. Example, we have moderate credit and pay would $45 a month to insure a 1987 Dodge Caravan. My folks have sparkling credit and are paying $17 a month to insure that same exact car - and with more coverage. We, neither me nor my husband, have not had any claims, losses, accidents, or even so much as a speeding ticket in the last 11 years. My parents have had, together, 3 speeding tickets, and two accidents in the same time period. AND YET... because their credit rating is excellent, they pay nearly $20 a month less than we would to insure the same car against ACCIDENTS! If the insurance company was a LENDER, then they would have a reason to base the rates on credit ratings. But, they are an insurer against accidents / losses and other claims. My credit should be none of their ^%$$%@#!!!! business!!!!! We're low-income and our credit will never shine, no matter how well I manage our money (and I do manage it well). So, I am angry because the voters decided to continue punishing the poor with high costs for insurance, and reward the rich, who wreck their expensive cars, with cheaper rates.
^*%$%^#$%*&*%*!#$*&^#%^$#$$%$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We also voted against putting a reasonable spending cap on government - we voted against a measure that would have regulated the legislature by stating that you can only increase the budget by the percent of increase in population, and the increase in inflation combined. We even more stupidly voted down a measure which would amend our state constiution to allow laws to be made about campaign spending. The subsequent measure, which is to be a law that limits campaign spending, passed, but is now unconstitutional because the amedment measure did not pass. We have a bunch of arrogant dummies here in this state. I'm sorry, but that's basically it. They saw the words "Amends Constitution" and freaked out and voted "no" automatically. They couldn't be bothered to read the actual text and comprehend that it was vital to the following measure. And, they were too arrogant to let it be known that they didn't understand that - God forbid they ask a question!!! OOPS - can't say GOD forbid - it might infringe on someone's religious freedoms.
While I am happy about the turnovers in the federal house and senate, as well as the democratic dominance in my own state legislature, I am genuinely ANGRY at the blind idiocy that the constituancy tends to display when it comes to ballot measures. I would love for the voter's books to be written in plain English and not a dialect of legal-confusion. Maybe that would help the voters understand the measurs. But, that would require a vote of the people, and, quite frankly, they wouldn't understand the measure because it would still be written in non-plain English. Kind of a dog chasing its own tail kind of thing.
And, it's not going to get better because we are doing a worse-than-poor job of educating our kids now than was done when the current generations of voters were educated. The days of progress are gone.
posted by RettMom @ 10:46 AM
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