Not A Split Decision, A Draw
________________________________________________________________________
Well, it’s the day after Election Day 2018 and most observers of the national election results are calling it a “split decision”. Being a big boxing fan I have to disagree a little bit – a split decision means that on two of the three scorecards one of the pugilists scored higher than the fighter on the one other scorecard and is therefore the winner.
Nationally I think this midterm election was a draw, with neither side getting a split decision win. There was no “blue wave” with huge majorities coming out to affirm their hatred and displeasure at President Trump by sweeping all Republicans and Trump supporters from office as many in the “resistance” and the mainstream media punditry had hoped.
But neither was there a “red wave”, or an “orange wave”. The GOP could not beat the odds and hold on to the House in Trumps first term midterm, losing around 30 seats as of this writing. Losing control of the House is a big deal, but so is adding seats to a GOP Senate majority which could go from 51 to 54 by the time the counting is done.
By comparison, in Obama’s first midterm election in 2010 the Democrats lost a net of 63 House seats and 6 Senate seats. As for Clinton in his first term, 1994, the Democrats lost 52 House seats and 8 Senate seats.
Even though there’s been a lot of acrimony and division in our country during this election season I think it’s a positive sign that so many people, especially younger folks, were involved, engaged and excited about the process. This bodes well for our Republic.
We have many challenges here and our biggest enemy has always been citizen and voter apathy when it comes to our city and county governments and public officials.
I hope that kind of interest and engagement can grow locally as well. Now that this national election cycle has come to an end I’m looking forward to once again focusing on local Great Falls and Cascade County issues of importance. We have many challenges here and our biggest enemy has always been citizen and voter apathy when it comes to our city and county governments and public officials.
Let’s change that by paying attention and getting involved in our own local hometown and neighborhood issues, like our school board and city and county commissions and boards, at least as much as we do with the sexier national issues. Please.
________________________________________________________________________
