state of status quo as usual

well, no surprises here.  of course the anti-monopoly amendment passed and the marijuana monopoly (legalization) lost.  there was no way the upstanding , churchgoing , beer-guzzling citizens of ohio were going to usher in the 21st century to THEIR medieval state.  clever doublespeak, repubs.

although on a bright note for this county, it looks like the levy for parks and trails may have just squeaked by, by a narrow margin, not sure yet.  the other two levies, for infrastructure and public health programs, appear to have done quite well, surprisingly.  but i guess maintenance of parks and trails, badly in need of funding, is not as big a priority in this post-industrial wasteland, where parks are built as an afterthought over toxic waste dumps and working quarries, destroying rare prehistoric fossils and evidence of evolution.  at least they finally figured out building housing and industrial complexes on essential wetland habitats was not such a great idea.

as for candidates, of course the status quo will be maintained.  boring business as usual.  there were only a few i could even justify voting for.  this is how ‘democracy’ drones on in middle america.

but we did our voting duty, and got our stickers!  at least the beers i guzzled afterwards were decent microbrews.  i will hand it to ohio–they do have many fine craft beers on tap here, to help me forget where we’re stuck for now.

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2 thoughts on “state of status quo as usual

  1. of course, i understand exactly what he was thinking, and that same thought process went through my head pre-election. and of course i was all for the redistricting/anti-gerrymandering amendment, which i was glad (and a bit surprised) did very well here, even with its limitations.

    as for issues 2 and 3 (anti-monopoly and marijuana monopoly), they were set up that way on purpose to cause that exact reaction by the average ohio voter, which i also initially agreed with: monopoly=evil, and marijuana monopoly=evil (or in the case of the average ohioan, marijuana, period, =evil). but it was designed that way to make sure any legalization didn’t pass this time around, or any time soon. i’m pro-legalization, especially for medical purposes and to fight the stupid war on drugs and mass incarcerations, but of course i’m anti-monopoly of any kind, so what to do?

    in the end, i chose to abstain on 2 and compromise and vote pro-3, because that was exactly the catch-22 that conservatives had intended to block any legalization. there was no way you could really vote your conscience entirely, because of the way they write their agendas into these proposals or amendments. i’m not entirely happy about the way i felt i had to vote, and i’m also glad that people voted anti-monopoly, because in an ideal world, monopolies never work.

    and of course i totally agree with voting in every election possible, however compromised. witness the fiasco in kentucky, where everyone stayed home and screwed themselves. they deserve the assholes they get. here in ohio, turnout was ok-ish, not great, but at least there was some showing.

    to summarize, in essence i agree with Scalzi 100%, but i had to diverge based on some insider info i had about the motives behind the writing of those particular issues. i admit i may have been wrong, but anyway the election pretty much went the way i figured it would, with some pleasant surprises. our system is flawed, so you work within it as best you can, if you can’t afford to move to Canada or somewhere else!

    does that answer your question?

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