This Thanksgiving finds me with more to be thankful for than ever. So, I thought I would make a list of those things that find me feeling more thankful, hopeful, and optimistic than I have ever felt on Thanksgiving.
The below list is not by any means a ranking. It’s simply the order things came to mind.
A 7-8-year-old white woman who lobbies Wall Street for cash and whose politics trend toward the center doesn’t embody today’s Democratic Party. Still, the House should be led by Speaker Pelosi in January. The idea of Pelosi returning to the speakership comes with the following caveat.
The Outsider is one of Stephen King’s better books. Since I have enjoyed a number of King’s books, I don’t say that lightly.
I’m writing this about an hour after we learned three Florida races are headed for recounts and the same may happen in the contest for Georgia’s governor. All of this is happening against the backdrop of a midterm that saw the highest voter turnout of any midterm election since 1970–in spite of the GOPS voter suppression efforts.
The last five days have reminded us of the massive problems with our election system and the ways politicians game that system for their advantage. Below are several ideas that would dramatically improve the fairness of our elections. If enacted, they would go a long way to guarantee that every American can vote and trust their vote will be counted. That means if we don’t demand these changes, politicians will never consider them.
The races for the governors office in several states are absolutely critical. The reason is that the governors will play a big role in the drawing of district maps after the 2020 census. In order to limit Republican efforts to gerrymander even more districts so Democrats can’t compete, the elections for governors offices really matter.
With voters going to the polls in less than 48 hours in one of the most important elections in American history, I thought I would try to predict some outcomes. The caveat here is that unreliable polling data, Republican voter suppression, and the unique interest in this election makes predicting results difficult. Still, I love politics and making what I hope are accurate guesses is fun.
I will make predictions in the most important Senate races being decided.
This addition of news updates covers the following stories:
Michael Waldman’s The Fight to Vote is an incredibly timely, important look at the history of voting in America. Sadly, Waldman’s work highlights the systematic disenfranchisement of Americans (especially people of color and poor people).
This update has news about Ufi, Emma, my job, and some needed home improvements.
In earlier posts, I covered the statewide ballot questions in Oregon and the local ballot questions In Portland. As the title indicates, this post is about some of the interesting ballot questions around America.
