Democrats Succeed at Mid-Terms

Trump has gone into hiding and is having a full-on meltdown. 

It’s a weird and scary time to live in the United States.

What I mean is it’s weirder and scarier than it had been before the 2016 presidential election! The US always seems to have some undercurrent of things to be wary of when you hail from a marginalized community – mine being the LGBT community. While 2018 isn’t anything like it was in the 1970’s when I was a teenager, as far as being out and gay, it’s beginning to remind me that my being out doesn’t and hasn’t come without a price to pay and a fight to continue fighting.

Our mid-term elections were held November 6th and the lead up was very heated between the parties and due to all of the division that Trumpism has brought to the surface here, as evidenced by the massacre at the temple in Pennsylvania and the bombs sent to major players of the Democratic party. Our televisions were abuzz with hateful advertisements accusing this candidate, ridiculing that one and spreading out-of-context misinformation. I personally hate political advertising like that. Any candidate that has to resort to cutting down their opposition because they don’t have a decent platform of their own to tout will never get a vote from me. Voting for anyone who runs that type of ad is just condoning it and feeding their hatred. I choose to ignore it, note who did it and not to vote for whomever it is running the ad.

I wish we would do some campaign reform here in America. Starting with getting PAC money OUT of all politics. Then requiring candidates to pay for their own ads and media content and they should not be allowed to accuse, ridicule or point at anyone else, but only talk about themselves and what they will bring to the table if elected. Get the hate out of political advertising. And no one should be allowed to lie – it’s false advertising!  And it’s just unappealing because it’s just gone too far. We also need major campaign finance reform, i.e. do away with PACs and outside funding. Make the playing field more even for everyone. The PACs and other donors give this money and pump their chosen candidate so that they can get a “foot in the door” so to speak by holding their candidate up to do their bidding in legislation and regulation. It’s all about the money. Fucking money sucks.

We had record voter turn out on both sides of the slate. Democrats really put a ton of effort into getting out the vote and getting people psyched up to get to the polls. There is no duty more important, in my opinion than showing up and voting when you’re called on to do so. Elections are how we the people have our say in governing the country and steering it in directions that are good for us, not just for the politician and their donors. A prime example is the Trump Tax plan of 2017. He was put in office by money and outside influence and a sheepish base who believed he would be “different” somehow. HIs tax plan gave trillions of dollars to big corporations and the uber-rich across the board. It did nothing for the middle class, working stiffs of America. Wages remain stagnant and profits of corporations are skyrocketing while our national debt is through the roof and climbing by the minute. This will be Trump’s legacy – the financial ruin of America.

Just over 113,000,000 people turned out to vote. I am pleased that Democrats did very well all across the country.  We elected 235 Democrats to the House and 47 to the Senate.  This gives Dems majority control of the House of Representatives while leaving us as the minority party in the Senate. This is really very good for now. It means that the Republican party is no longer in full control of our federal government and Trump no longer gets a blank check. Across America, Democrats replaced 335 state-level Republican legislators. We turned many formerly red states and areas blue. Yes, we got our Blue Wave regardless of what Trump says because of course, he’s claiming victory despite major Republican losses in key states.  Here are some of the outcomes explained more specifically.https://www.politico.com/election-results/2018/

Over 100 women were elected to go to Washington DC; as well as many men and women of diverse backgrounds, minorities, and LGBT are going to be serving us. They are younger, more diverse, enthusiastic and ready to bring progress and civility back to US soil. This is a sign of the future of government in America; a very positive, incremental sign. Congress is finally starting to look like a representation of the population. We really have some terrific people now in office! I have high hope that they will serve us wisely by putting forward a positive agenda and doing much-needed oversight of our government workings.

I was impressed with Democrats as a whole. There was no huge celebration or a big gloating party upon their wins. Calm and classiness has been maintained and the only people suing and complaining are the sore-loss Republican candidates in some particular states, such as Florida. Florida’s elections were overseen by the Governor, who also ran for re-election – talk about the referee playing in the game!  Their voting machines broke down, they tried to suppress votes, discouraged voters, as well as threatened and frightened people. It’s a real mess, but it was mostly expected and primarily was a Florida issue. I don’t understand what it is about that state that they can’t seem to get their electoral system up to par and always seem to have problems, but I hope that someone will pay attention this time and FIX the freaking problem! The state, as well as many others, is also gerrymandered to death. Hopefully, now that Dems have majority control across the country we can remedy this issue when the district lines are redrawn to make it a more fair and balanced system. Gerrymandering has cost us dearly and must be stopped. 

Here in Maine, where I reside, we turned the state blue again. We have one single Republican left – Senator Susan Collins. We elected a Democratic governor, Janet Mills from Farmington Maine, and now our state house is also filled with Democrats. After 6 years of LePage and his Trump-like antics and personality, we were sick and tired of all of the hate and of him disregarding the will of the people. He would go against things we voted to do and try to prevent laws from being enacted after the people voted to enact them! It’s been very aggravating for us here. We voted to expand Medicaid here, and he refused to enact it. He withheld the funding and just wouldn’t allow it to happen – even after a court order to do so! So, his hateful ass is out of here. I hear he’s moving to Florida! Hahah…they can HAVE him. I’m hopeful that Gov. Mills will stick to her promises and start with addressing the opioid crisis here, then healthcare, the environment, and education. It has to get better.

Of course, Trump has been freaking out. He’s gone into hiding, for the most part, Tweeting outrageously about the Mueller investigation and that people are changing clothes to vote twice. He’s not doing his presidential duties, is brooding over his loss of control and the possibility that his kids are going to prison for bilking America. Plus a whole lot more…but I’m tired of his shit show. And he somehow feels less threatening at the moment. The fact that his own party has been pretty much silent since the mid-terms is great too, although it does make them complicit in his dirty deeds in my opinion. But they are peeling off slowly, starting to whisper behind his back that they need to distance themselves from him. America voted on Nov. 6th and HE was the main reason his party lost. America stood up and said NO to Trumpism. 

In 721 days we vote again. This next time to replace Trump. I’m sooo looking forward to that one!!!

Peace & Kindness!  ~MB