Other election news for November 9th

In other election news not related to the presidential election:

Fox News:

Republicans projected to keep control of Senate, House

Republicans were projected to retain control of the House and Senate after fending off Democratic challenges across the country on Election Day.

...As of early Wednesday morning, Republicans were on track to see their 54-46 [Senate] majority erode only slightly. They could end up with at least 52 seats, according to the AP.

[Republicans] also kept control of the House. The GOP entered Election Day with a 59-seat House advantage, so Democrats would have had to gain 30 seats to take control of the chamber. They will instead likely pick up 10 to 20 seats, falling short of majority control. 

The last time the Republicans controlled both houses of Congress and the White House was 2005-2006. Maybe they can do better this time around?

In state elections...

ABC News:

California, Massachusetts Approve Recreational Marijuana

The marijuana legalization movement scored its biggest victory yet Tuesday as voters in California, Massachusetts and Nevada approved recreational pot, making the drug fully legal in the nation's most populous state and giving it a toehold in the densely populated Northeast.

Voters in Florida, North Dakota and Arkansas approved medical marijuana measures.

While I have never smoked marijuana, and wouldn't, I still consider this long overdue. The war on drugs is arguably the longest and most epic failure in the history of bad government ideas, right next to Prohibition.

Finally, for local news in my home state of Georgia:

AJC.com:

AJC ELECTION RESULTS

Incumbent Republican Senator Johnny Isakson easily won re-election 55-41% over Democratic challenger Jim Barksdale.

However, Libertarian Allen Buckley made a good showing at 4%. By comparison, Libertarian Amanda Swafford got 1.9% in her 2014 Senate run. It may not seem that good, but consider that is a 110% improvement for Libertarians. (By the way, Amanda was a better candidate, so that really shows up as an improvement in chances for Libertarians overall, even though they still have a long way to go.)

In even better news for Libertarians, Eric Hoskins made a very respectable showing in his run for Public Service Commissioner, garnering 33% of the vote. Admittedly, Hoskins was the only alternative to incumbent Republican Tim Echols, who deserved to win with 67% of the vote, as he has done a good job and put in a stellar debate performance against Hoskins.

All of the state constitutional amendments passed, except the controversial school district amendment, which would hand control over to the state for failing school districts. I had an argument with my dad over this one yesterday. He favored it because it would potentially remove control of failing school districts from teacher's unions. I was against it because handing control to politicians without a guaranty of specific action is a recipe for disaster. I referred him to the 16th Amendment to the Constitution which was passed on the promise that only the wealthy would be taxed, and we all know how that turned out. Never give politicians "blank check" control unless you have no other option.

So how could the school district amendment go wrong? Consider the politicians in office today may not be the ones in office tomorrow, or years from now. And once you give them that blank check power, you will NEVER get it back. Even if you trust the politicians today (which is also risky), all it takes is one or more well-placed politician(s) who are in bed with the National Education Association to turn over control of all the Georgia schools to the NEA.

Next argument? "It only applies to failing school districts?" And who determines the criteria for failure? The politicians! Checkmate! And we all lose, except the politicians.

Sorry Dad, but the Georgia voters got that one right, even if they messed up the rest. Your reason for supporting the amendment (turning the failed unionized schools into charter schools) was sound, but the amendment executed it in the worst way possible.

Lastly, the Chatham County ESPLOST passed (the education sales tax), although I still think they need a better plan for the schools, and not more money. The plan offered was all based on school construction and repairs, without any of it going towards actual education, where the Chatham County schools are an epic failure. News flash for Chatham County voters: Education takes place above the neck, not in a school building. Get your priorities straight.