The 2012 Elections - Better Than Christmas!

I don't even know where to start.

I got everything I asked for (except one, CA Prop 37-label GMO products) and then all sorts of things I didn't and/or didn't even know about! My word...it's breath-taking... the progressive movement is STRONG and ALIVE in America. I think we're just so overpowered by the loud squeaky wheel of the crazy relative at family events we feel like we're in the minority- but we ARE NOT!

My night started out at Amanda's house with her and Savannah. We had pizza and listened to the stats as they came in. I was nervous when the electoral college votes for the president were in the 100's and Romney was leading for a while. But by 8:30pm the networks called it, Barack Obama was expected to win!!! I headed home and listened to NPR and then watched the rest of the night on the xbox live feed. I enjoyed a glass of ice wine and kicked back.

So many wonderful things happened, I wanted to write them up here so that I never forget and have them in my blog book.

Tammy Baldwin. First female Senator elect from Wisconsin and the first openly gay member of the US Senate.

Pictured greeting her Mom after winning the election.

What went well for Democrats and the Progressive American agenda?

Claire McCaskill (D) won her Senate seat in Missouri vs Todd Akin.
Elizabeth Warren (D) beat Scott Brown in Massachusetts.
Marriage Rights for same-sex couples passed in all four states.

Iowa anti-gay activists didn't oust a Gay friendly Judge.
Nevada elects it's first African-American Congressman.
First Asian-American Senator from Hawaii.
First severely wounded Iraq war veteran elected.
California relaxed it's 3 strikes law and rejected a law to cripple the power of unions.
Decriminalization of marijuana was approved in Washington and Colorado.
Sherrod Brown held his seat in Ohio.
Proposition 30 passed in California (Preventing further cuts in education).
Proposition 32 failed in California (Protecting Union Rights).
The red tide of 2010 didn't hold this year.

California now has super majorities in the Senate and House, Republicans are completely legislatively irrelevant. Missouri, Montana and Virginia chose democratic Governors. West Virginia and North Dakota both chose their first openly gay state legislators. More women got elected to the US Senate than in any time in history. Young people representation went up from 2008. Oh, yeah, and this happened:

President Barack Obama was re-elected with a landslide Electoral college and a million votes in the popular vote. Not only did Obama win all the swing states (except North Carolina), but Democratic senators were elected from all of those states.

And because Obama is President, we are NOT:

Going to have a Supreme Court that will overturn Roe vs Wade.
We will not repeal Obamacare.
We are not going to give a 20% tax cut to the rich.
We are not going to make you clear it with your boss if you want birth control.
We are not going to redefine rape.
We are not going to amend the United States Constitution to stop gay people from getting married.
We are not going to double up on Guantanamo.
We are not eliminating the department of energy or education or housing.
We are not going to spend 2 trillion dollars on the military that they are not asking for.
We are not scaling back on student loans because the new plan is that you should "borrow money from your parents." (Insert sarcastic grin)
We are not vetoing the Dream Act.
We are not "Self Deporting".
We are not letting Detroit go bankrupt.
We are not starting a trade war with China.
We are not going to have, as a president, a man who once led a mob of friends to run down a scared gay kid to hold him down and forcibly cut his hair off with a pair of scissors while that kid cried and screamed for help.

So what have we learned from this election cycle?

Ohio really did go to President Obama.
He really was born in Hawaii.
He really is legitimately the President again.
The beurau of labor statistics didn't make up a fake unemployment rate last month.
The Congressional Research Service really can find no evidence that cutting taxes on rich people grows the economy.
The polls were not skeewed to over-sample Democrats.
Nate Silver was not making up fake projections to make conservatives feel bad.
Climate change is real.
And rape really does cause pregnancy sometimes.
And evolution, is a thing.
Bengazi was an attack on us.
NOBODY IS TAKING AWAY ANYONE'S GUNS.
Taxes have not gone up.
The deficit is dropping.
Financial reforms are not the same thing as communism.

And the President gave a great acceptance speech in which he included this line, and I'm so very glad he did. Climate change and what we can do to curb the effects is already years behind where we need to be. We need to move fast so we can leave the next generation a planet to survive on.

Oh yeah, and lastly, we're still waiting on *yawn* Flo-rida to figure out their counting... but we're just going to move on without them, at this point. Maybe they'll have things figured out in four more years...

The cherry on top of the ice cream sundae was Boehner's response to the election in which he sums up his message with "We are ready to follow".
I don't need anything else for Christmas, thanks! I have everything I could want!

And with that, I'm happy, sleepy, and exhausted. Time for bed... oh yeah, and I think propositions 1, 2, and 3 failed in Idaho. Kudos to the citizens of Idaho!