There have been many different and differing views and analyses of the results of elections 2010. At least two of those are predictably partisan.
Another and more interesting one is that discussed by Mother Jones blogger, Kevin Drum. His analysis is insightful, documented and revealing. What it reveals is that at least for a while longer the Euro Anglo majority of this republic can still flex its muscle and clobber anyone it sees as “uppity” or “liberal.”
Euro Anglos have kept our republic very, very conservative for much of its history. This has been especially true from the 1950’s to present. It was afterall the 1950’s that unfortunately gave us the institutionalized “Pledge of Allegiance”, “In God We Trust” on our currency, the McCarthy Era witchunts, Blacklisting, the Fraternal Order of the Eagles Ten Commandments project and more.
I often surprise and even enrage friends, family and anyone listening or reading when I state that it would be impossible to ratify the Bill of Rights today. However outrageous the statement---it is reflective of conditions in what is referred to as our “right of center nation”---much to my chagrin.
The Bill of Rights was radical when it was ratified. It is more so today. Those behind the drafting of the Bill of Rights saw to it that the collective had rights that up to that point had not been ceded to anyone, anywhere. Ever since then compassionate conservative religiosities have been all about limiting, curbing, taking away anything the compassionate conservative religiosities didn’t and don’t like about those freedoms. Ironically, (and if it weren’t so scary---humorously) they sell that as just the opposite. Compassionate conservative religiosities are all about less for everyone---except the oligarchs.
Put another way, the result of election 2010 is simply a return to the norm. “For all the turmoil, the spectacle, the churning - for all the old bulls slain and fuzzy-cheeked freshmen born - the great Republican wave of 2010 is simply a return to the norm. The tide had gone out; the tide came back. A center-right country restores the normal congressional map: a sea of interior red, bordered by blue coasts and dotted by blue islands of ethnic/urban density.”
Put yet another way,
From Texas Red: a cratered landscape of prisons, deplorable apartheid public education, lack of healthcare and politicians and majority population intent on keeping it that way…
Hasta Siempre,
Hasta Siempre,
More:
Republicans map out their agenda of less
Immigrant Voter Fraud Fears Didn't Materialize
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=131089170
compassionate conservative euro anglo religiosity majority made the difference?---weirdly usual…..
Weird Findings From 2010's Exit Poll Data
The most important categories are probably white voters and older voters, both of whom shifted Republican far more than the general population. Beyond the raw size of the shift, however, whites are important because their absolute numbers are so big and older voters are important because their big.
http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2010/11/raw-data
A return to the norm
For all the turmoil, the spectacle, the churning - for all the old bulls slain and fuzzy-cheeked freshmen born - the great Republican wave of 2010 is simply a return to the norm. The tide had gone out; the tide came back. A center-right country restores the normal congressional map: a sea of interior red, bordered by blue coasts and dotted by blue islands of ethnic/urban density.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/04/AR2010110406581.html?wpisrc=nl_pmheadline
It Wasn't About the Economy, Stupid
We witnessed no massive realigning of the electoral map, instead, America remains divided along the same political, cultural, and economic axes.
My own earlier analysis of polling data suggested that short-term economic factors like the unemployment rate or changes in housing values provided little explanation of state favorites for Senate or governor, while more deep-seated structural factors like income, social class, attitudes toward religion, and openness toward immigrants, as well as gays and lesbians were more likely to hold sway. [emphasis added]
Is This What You Voted For?
So one major effect of the Tea Party movement will be to further enrich Wall Street banks and the bankers who work there. (Which, I guess, is consistent with the common Tea Party insistence on reducing taxes for the rich.)
http://baselinescenario.com/
WATCH: The Shellacked And The Furious ... Two Very Different Takes On The Midterms ... In One Handy Video
Meet Your 112th Congress
A quick guide to the gay-bashing, detainee-abusing, coal-fired, bayonet-fixing class of 2011.
http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/11/meet-your-112th-congress
Texas Democrats Face Session Lacking Numbers, Leaders
The Republicans gained 21 seats this election night, an almost unprecedented victory, even in a state with a history of big GOP wins. Of the 150 seats in the Texas House, the GOP controls almost two-thirds. The Democrats now face a legislative session demoralized and deflated, without numbers or leaders. In a year in which the state most cope with redrawing congressional districts and an enormous budget gap, estimated somewhere between $18 and $25 billion, the Democrats will likely have to fight to have any voice at all in forming public policy. It may make some people nostalgic for 2003, what used to be considered the "low point" for the Texas Democratic Party.
http://www.texasobserver.org/cover-story/texas-democrats-face-session-lacking-numbers-leaders
Nightmare on Main St.
Why American society breeds so many mutants, psychos and zombies.
Texas has much to be proud of: the Alamo, NASA, Rick Perry’s hair. It is also home to the most famous film massacre of all time: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Made on a shoestring budget outside of Austin in the early ’70s, the film captured the macabre and pessimistic fears of a Watergate-sick nation. Leatherface and his family’s tendency toward torture and cannibalism offered a bizarre reflection of corrupt American politicians and greed-driven industrialists feasting on their own country. Plus, the movie was freaky scary, maybe the scariest thing to happen in Texas until George W. Bush hired Karl Rove.
http://www.texasobserver.org/culture/nightmare-on-main-st
Muslimophobia: Election Roundup
Public policy: mandate to the lapdogs, transformational event or just a Yosemite Sam Tea Party moment?
http://baselinescenario.com/
The Billion-Dollar Batting Averages of 2010's Shadow Spenders
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/11/american-crossroads-american-action-network-secret
Crisis on the Border: Migrant Youth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnKKVBouROI&feature=player_embedded
Public policy: mandate to the lapdogs, transformational event or just a Yosemite Sam Tea Party moment?
Fraternal Order of the Eagles
http://www.foe.com/about-us/ten-commandments.aspx
Fraternal Order of the Eagles
Bill Maher Interviews Bill Moyers: The conscience of a nation Pt 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_BUx49UEng
The Conscience of a Liberal
Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity
13 Bankers
Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer--and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class
Elections 2010: People’s mandate to the lapdogs, transformational or just a Yosemite Sam Tea Party moment?
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