Now that the 2016 election is over I’d like to congratulate the elected officials for their victories and all of the candidates for their participation. It was a very emotional process for many people. I am thankful for being able to participate in my limited way. I didn’t campaign much but still got a lot of votes. Which tells me people read my statement for candidacy in the voters guide and agreed with it, then voted for me. I would like to extend a special thanks to all of them.
I would especially like to congratulate Pramila Jayapal. She will be my next congressional representative. She will represent hundreds of thousands of people in the 7th district. She is very intelligent and articulate and I expect she will vote the same as I would have on virtually every issue that comes before congress. I wish her well.
There are a lot of measures on the local ballot here that I would like to comment on, time allowing. But, next up in the Log, a few words about the presidential election.
The unexpected victory of Trump is historically without precedent, as far as I know. Five days later the protests in the streets against him continue to build. The heartbreak of defeat felt by Hillary and the democrats, will hurt for sometime to come.
All of that turmoil from this election was due to the antiquated political system that we use. Both candidates had higher negative approval ratings than positive, meaning that more people disliked the presidential candidates than liked them. The non-voters were in the majority again, as usual, outnumbering all of the voters combined.
The lesson of this election is how inadequate our democracy is. Our antiquated democracy was outlined before the advent of electricity. Yet, it is still praised as the greatest political system ever, by the private parties that control it, and benefit from it, despite its blatant failure. Failures Trump articulated over and over during his campaign.
The election of Trump is a repudiation of both parties and their policies. The establishment will see Trump’s victory as successful consensus of the people, rather than a rejection of themselves and their institutions that have failed the public.
The winning campaign mantra was we have been cheated by a rigged system run by political hacks. The irony is that Trump will almost certainly proceed with the same failed policies that is cheating the public, and rig the system further. The republicans were looking for an excuse to be less compassionate and now they have one. Trump will fill his government with lobbyists and political hacks, like republicans always do.
The democrats will continue with their futile resistance and the country will sink further into what ails it. I will share what I view as the obvious solutions as I get time. The most obvious remedy now is to create a democratic party that represents the public, or abandon it for a new political coalition that can challenge the failed policy makers from both sides of the aisle.