[lbo-talk] Status Quo Election

Brad Mayer gaikokugo at fusionbb.net
Fri Nov 5 10:28:23 PST 2004


If you haven't already, check out Fairvote.org. See especially Curtis Gans of the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate, and Rob Ritchie (who I can only quickly find on http://counterpunch.com/ritchie11052004.html right now).

Ritchie confirms that the political system is largely moribund, reduced to being a plebecite for Shogun: * The 2004 election was in fact a very status quo one, reflected by the near exact Electoral College mirror of 2004 to 2000 and the almost perfect stasis in U.S. House races. Even the Senate gains from Republicans fit into this pattern, with all Republican gains coming on ground that already was firmly Republican in 2000. Of course when Republicans control the White House and Congress, a status quo election is a victory for their party.

* The House of Representatives has reached a breathtaking level of non-competitiveness. More than 95% of seats were won by margins of more than 10% - a record. Only four incumbents outside of Texas didn,t win by at least 4%, and only three were defeated.

Both Ritchie and Gans highlight that just over 30% of the adult population came out to vote for their brain-damaged monkey. This is absolute confirmation that almost one out of three Americans themselves suffers from a severe political pathology (and of course it is not a question of "blame" for victims of an illness).

The silver lining on this is that it also marks the high-water mark of the reactionary vote for the forseeable future. It is at the same level as Reagan in 1984, so not much has changed here, except that the lines are drawn more clearly and the leadership is even further to the right than Reagan. Fine with me, they are headed over a cliff, the lemmings.

Finally, note Gans scorching of McAulliff and Dem "leadership". Such a pattern of "mistakes" tells me they didn't want the Presidency, like I said from the very beginning. -Brad Mayer

http://www.fairvote.org/



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