Biggest obstacle to taxing the rich is usually the voters

Biggest obstacle to taxing the rich seems to be the voters. For example, here in Washington State, the voters sent a resounding 63.9 % yes to an initiative that would require 2/3rds vote in legislature for any tax increase. I-1185. Anti tax sentiment was still strong at the ballot box even though that same election was considered a liberal victory for legalized pot and gay marriage. The two thirds requirement has since been tossed out as unconstitutional by the Washington State Supreme Court, but seems like it's hard to get new taxes, on the rich or anyone else past the voters. California voters did pass a state tax increase in 2012, but such vote is still rare. If we really want to tax the rich, we have a lot of educating to do at the grass roots level. Convincing voters to vote for tax measures that can tax the rich.

Ballotpedia article on I-1185.

First gay marriages on steps of Whatcom County Courthouse

I also like the reflection of background trees in the courthouse windows. Whatcom County Courthouse in Bellingham soon after marriage equality went into effect in Washington State.

Two paths to marriage equality. By court order, or voter approval

It's really good that the voters said yes to marriage equality here in Washington State. The cases that are now coming up to the Supreme Court are about constitutional rights versus the states where voters voted against gay marriage. For instance in California, where voters opposed marriage equality by supporting California Proposition 8 several years ago. Now Proposition 8 is being tested in the courts, but no matter how the Supreme Court rules, in this case, Washington State's voter approved law is still safe, as far as I know. Hope the court rules in favor of tossing out California's anti gay marriage Proposition for the states that weren't as fortunate at the ballot box.

States where voters approved gay marriage in 2012 are Washington, Maine and Maryland.

In Minnesota, voters turned down a proposed constitutional amendment against gay marriage. Attitudes of voters seem to be changing fairly quickly on the gay marriage issue. Maybe California will take another vote someday, but in the meantime, that case is before the Supreme Court.

Governments need the revenue from pot as a business model. Hurray Washington State.

I hope the Federal government doesn't fight Washington State's new law legalizing marijuana. Governments at the federal, state and local levels all need the revenue from pot as a business model. Also less costs for law enforcement and incarceration. I don't even use pot that much, myself, but I look at the math. It's the budgets stupid.

I heard that the largest clinic for free healthcare in the county is the county jail. Interesting perspective. Wouldn't have thought of that, but it sounds logical. Medical care is a big expense in the jail. I heard that on the Joe Show on Bellingham's Progressive Talk KBAI when they interviewed County Councilman Ken Mann. He was on that show recently discussing county business including the plans for a new jail, and other county matters.

Fond memories of George W. Bush?

On BBC Radio from London, they recently interviewed someone from an institute connected with former President Bush. He was talking about why he thought Romney lost the election. Basically Romney was more harsh than Bush, if you can believe that. I can. Bush did support some immigration reform that included a guest worker program. Bush added prescription drug benefit to Medicare, Bush funded a lot of AIDS work in Africa, Bush often called himself a "compassionate conservative." Romney and Ryan's talk about cutting Medicare, and so forth was harsher and didn't go over with the voters. Interesting perspective.

I feel that the Republicans have gotten worse for several reasons. One reason (besides the power of the hateful mega churches) is that people are freaked out about the deficit. Tea party Republicans feel we can't have "business as usual" when it comes to the deficit. Bush was often accused of spending like a drunk sailor as he cut taxes, started wars and expanded, rather than proposing to slash, Medicare. Romney/Ryan came along later with a slash, slash, slash message that even made George Bush look nice. Maybe Romney was just set up to it. As governor of Massachusetts, he might have been more moderate, but harsh conservatism was taking over the Republican party at that time. Now the Republicans are doing some soul searching and it is interesting to hear the various perspectives.

I'm glad Obama won.

A casualty of 2012 election. New YMCA plan in Lynden

While there were yes votes for a lot of things in Washington State, a recreation center in the town of Lynden (north of Bellingham) was voted down. Plan was to restore the old Delft Square building that was damaged by fire several years ago. Turn it into a recreation center that would be owned by the Lynden Parks District and then operated by the YMCA.

Lynden voters weren't that generous, but also geography might have played a role. Lynden Parks District has the same boundaries as the Lynden School District and the recreation center would have most likely been a benefit to a much larger region. Maybe the folks around Lynden didn't feel like paying a tax that would have provided something for a larger area even though it would have helped downtown Lynden as people would be drawn to the downtown.

Below picture from my files taken in 2009. Old Lynden Department Store building, later named Delft Square.

I don't get to Lynden that often, myself. What's there to do out there? I know, there's the Lynden Museum with a lot of antiques. I'm sure there's some stuff to do, but there's more to do in Bellingham, of course. Bellingham is a lot bigger.

At least there's a nice bike path to Ferndale. It goes along the Nooksack River Dike into Hovander Homestead County Park. Sometimes I ride out to Ferndale and then turn around and come back. I pick up that bike path off of Slater Road.

As an armchair "Wednesday morning" after the election analyst, I got to thinking. Seems like if the parks district was bigger, the idea might have gotten farther. That thinking brought me (web surfing) to a map of Washington State school districts. Here's the northwest Washington area excerpted from the school district map.

Remember, Lynden Parks and Lynden School District have the same borders, but maybe Lynden could view itself as sort of a hub for Nooksack Valley, Meridian, the north part of Ferndale and possibly even Blaine districts.

A county park rather than a city park?

Interesting looking map I discovered. I've never looked at the state from the perspective of it's many varied school districts.

Update 2016. Building has been restored as hotel and retail. See description and photo essay here.

Whitman County more blue than surrounding counties

Counting late ballots, Whitman County is now (as of last Friday) tipped over into the yes on Referendum 74 to legalize gay marriage in Washington State. Hurray.

Moot point anyway since 74 won statewide due to the big population in King County that was in favor. Nice to see Whitman join the yes side however. The only county to vote yes east of Cascade Mountains. I grew up in Whitman County where Pullman is located. A college town. Interesting to note that the county seat is not Pullman, it's Colfax, but Pullman is where most of Whitman County's population resides. Home of Washington State University.

One of my high school teachers called Pullman "the Athens of the Palouse." Whatcom County is in the yes category also. Whatcom is where Bellingham is located. I now live in Bellingham. Ref. 74 was strong in urban areas, such as around Seattle, but more weak in rural areas. Most of the land area of the state voted no, but land doesn't vote, people vote. It's kind of like red states versus blue states only it's red counties versus blue counties. Looking more closely (like at the precinct level), much of Whatcom County is more red, but urban Bellingham weighs heavy in the blue.

Seceding or joining the union 2012 election

Puerto Rico is the only place that actually took a vote and it voted for statehood.

There's been talk of petitions in some red states about seceding from the union after Obama's victory in the November 6th election, but the only place that actually took a vote on statehood was Puerto Rico. Voted in favor of joining statehood during the November 6th election. I think the union of USA is pretty safe if it were to actually come to a vote rather than just a few people signing petitions. Even in the so called "red states."

As for divisiveness in this country, urban versus rural may be more of a fracture point than red states versus blue states. Here in Whatcom County, the 42nd legislative district sent two Republicans to the state legislature November 6th. The 42 district is largely the rural part of Whatcom County north of Bellingham. Democrats were elected in the 40th district which is mostly in urban Bellingham and extends down into Skagit County.

The divide between 40th and 42nd legislative districts was real distinct in 2012 election. It was a race between Democrat Jeff Morris and Green Party candidate Howard Pellett in the 40th district. No Republican made it past the primary in Washington State's "top two" primary for that position. Jeff Morris won in the general election.

Several years ago, there were actually two secessionist movements in Whatcom County. Both in areas north of Bellingham. One was called Pioneer County while the other was called Independence County (If I remember correctly). Now these are just memories.

I got to thinking, if more liberal Bellingham and areas south were to also secede, the county courthouse might be the only thing left in Whatcom County. The courthouse grounds could be renamed "Scapegoat County." since everyone can blame their problems on being in Whatcom County. After secession, people might discover that they still have their problems, however.

Election victories, but a bit of a libertarian tint

It was a good election, for the most, part speaking from my vantage point in the great state of Washington. Obviously, I'm glad Barack Obama won.

Also exciting are election results in 3 states where gay marriage was approved including here in Washington. Recreational use of marijuana was approved also.

Jump up and down for joy and then realize that Tim Eyman, the generator of many conservative anti tax initiatives in our state, is celebrating also. Eyman's Initiative 1185 passed with a large margin. I-1185 requires a 2/3 majority in the legislature for any tax increase. I voted against 1185, but realize that it's part of a libertarian streak in both this state and country. There's still a small government, anti authority stripe in our culture. Some of that is good, but it can cause conflict when we expect teachers to be paid and our roads repaired.

Speaking of conflict, now that we have approved marijuana use, here in Washington, the stage is set for a showdown with federal authorities who still see marijuana as illegal and may try to enforce the law as federal law supersedes state law. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Will the deficit ridden federal government have the money to pay for enough police to enforce it's laws without cooperation at the local level?

Our culture's ambivalence over the role of government is also heading us right into the "fiscal cliff." That's when a bunch of difficult things come to pass like the dreaded sequester of across the board spending cuts to both military and domestic programs. It was approved by Congress last year in a deficit cutting compromise. Something has to be done about that to keep the military, Medicare and all those things running at the levels people seem to expect.

Our culture's libertarian influence is good in a way, but also problematic. It helps to keep us free from too much government control, but there's always a tradeoff. We also expect comforts from having the largest military in the world and programs such as Medicare. These all use government funding.

Of course, if we can innovate and figure out how to do these things without government, we've got it made, but that's a bit of a stretch.

Meanwhile, if the federal authorities can afford enough police to try to enforce federal marijuana laws in the state, I guess we can say "bug off." That's the American libertarian stripe. It's kind of a double edged sword.

Big victories for Democratic Party in many parts of the country. Picked up two seats in the US Senate. First openly gay senator among them.

In California, democrats have more than simple majority in both houses of the Legislature. Also Californians did vote to tax themselves more. Prop 30 passed. Part of the reason why it passed is that they took a good look at what would happen if it didn't pass. They worked out an alternative budget that showed them the cuts in schools and so forth. The voters passed the tax as opposed to suffering the alternative. It was spelled out quite clearly by Governor Brown, so I hear from listening to podcasts on KQED Radio. Michael Krasney's Forum show has done stuff about it.

Be careful, though, in California. Since the Democrats have control in the legislature and governor's mansion, they might get blamed if it screws up. California often leads the way.

It's been a good election to celebrate.

Some people say, hold your nose and vote for the lesser of two evils

Washington State is smart in one way. It's all absentee voting. No need to staff expensive polling stations. Practically never a line (sometimes a line at the drop box), Convenient and there still is a paper trail.

All absentee voting started (I think) here in Whatcom County, but it's gone statewide at least. As soon as one gets the ballot in the mail, one can vote. Vote must be postmarked or dropped off at a ballot box by the deadline on election day. One still must buy the postage. No stamp necessary if dropped off at one of several official drop boxes located around the county.

This one in the south parking lot of the county courthouse.

Yes I did vote for Obama. He's pretty good though no one is perfect. As for the direction of the country, it's usually been floundering ever since I can remember. There really is little consensus from the American people on what direction to go. We are left wingers, right wingers, centrists and all the special interests. USA is like an ocean liner with 6 captains all arguing on which way to turn the wheel. Each captain wrenching it one direction till another wrenches it in another direction. The ship moves so slowly that it basically just sits in the water as if no captain holds the wheel long enough to get up inertia in any one direction. Backward, forwards, left, right. That's our Congress for sure, but also the American people.

Still, we have absentee voting so at least we are smart in some ways; though the ship does look like the crew is absent. Absentee crew? No. It's just a case of two many cooks spoiling the broth, but that's supposedly democracy.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said, “We can always count on the Americans to do the right thing, after they have exhausted all the other possibilities.”

Washington has a chance to be the first state where voters say yes to gay marriage.

Etch A Sketch away the deficit

Could a Romney Presidency increase defense spending, not raise taxes, not harm Medicare and balance the budget? Just put the deficit on an Etch A Sketch and erase it.

Neither Romney or Obama understand that higher gas prices is why America is becoming more energy efficient

I listened to tonight's presidential debate where high gasoline prices were used as a political football. Both candidates talked about the America's need to produce more domestic fossil fuels and Obama was taking credit for increased production over the past few years. Both were critical of higher gasoline prices, but it seems they don't understand that higher prices are a big part of the reason why domestic energy production is up. Take the Bakken Shale, in North Dakota, as an example. The Bakken Shale has lots of oil, but it's harder to tap than oil of years past. As oil prices go up. Bakken Shale oil becomes more viable.

In the debate, neither candidate mentioned global warming. What's the matter with people?

Both candidates did mention the need to promote green energy, like solar and wind as part of the mix, but Obama gave green energy more emphasis. Good for Obama.

Both did discuss natural gas and I've heard that converting to natural gas could, at least temporarily, bring down the cost of operating an automobile, but who knows. After people convert, those prices could go up also. Remember, natural gas is still a fossil fuel. It's still a non renewable fossil fuel.

Higher gas prices are a blessing in disguise. They might help to push us toward greener energy in the future. Also, in the meantime, they make more of the American fossil fuel resources that are still remaining viable.

Romney talked about new technology for fossil fuel production, like (I'll fill in the blanks) fracking. Maybe fracking isn't the end of the world, but global warming could be if global warming truly accelerates.

Want us to stop blaming President Bush? Okay let's now blame the Republican House of Representatives

Yes, the Republican House is the source for a lot of our current problems.

Romeny's 47% slip

It wasn't a good campaign idea for Romeny to write off the so called 47% Americans depending on government non wage income (I assume that's what he met). Much of that 47% are things like Social Security and Medicare. Another big chunk is veterans benefits. In that 47%, there are quite a few folks who still vote Republican. I'm glad Romeny seems to be sinking in the polls. It's still a long time till November, but if the vote were taken today, it looks pretty good for Obama.

Not excited about 3rd party candidates

Short of putting myself in as a write in candidate, I can't think of any politicians that think entirely along my lines. No one , either main stream or third party thinks exactly the same as me. I might as well vote for what I see as the best mainstream candidate, at least for president. Third party works better in primary elections and some local elections where a third party can, maybe, start to get a foothold.

Paul Ryan VP fanfare, but governor of Virginia gave most substantive speech

I listened to the fanfare when Paul Ryan was announced as GOP vice presidential candidate for 2012. Most substantive speech, at the occasion, was given by the governor of Virginia, who also spoke, but his speech will most likely be forgotten as a side note. He offered some specific Republican style proposals about getting America working again. Mining coal, fracking for natural gas. Basically, pumping up our old fossil fuel economy.

No mention of global warming, of course. Will this be the economy of the future?

Romney and Ryan also gave rousing speeches, but mostly empty rhetoric about getting America prosperous again. No specific mention of coal and no mention of the Ryan budget proposal, of a year or so back, which did offer some specifics, but, like coal gives people pause. Basically, the Ryan budget called for ending Medicare as we know it among other things.

I plan to vote for Obama.

Mitt "Wall Street" Romney

Looks like Mitt "Wall Street" Romney is most likely to get the nomination as the Republican candidate. Middle name Wall Street is a good sound byte to stick on his candidacy. People don't like Wall Street even though, in actuality, Wall Street isn't very big. It's just a narrow street in New York City, but symbolic of something much bigger and meaner. There's also a Wall Street in Spokane, WA. but I don't think people are thinking of that Wall Street.