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House, Democrat

24 (23.3%)

House, Republican

6 (5.8%)

House, Independant

7 (6.8%)

Senate, Democrat

22 (21.4%)

Senate, Republican

6 (5.8%)

Senate, Independant

3 (2.9%)

Governor, Democrat

21 (20.4%)

Governor, Republican

6 (5.8%)

Governor, Independant

8 (7.8%)

Total Members Voted: 39

[Karlito]

Rural Nevada is a strange place filled with miles and miles of desert, with only the occasional stripe of highway or park of trailers.

[Captain Hat]

I live on the Indiana/Kentucky border, so I got to hear it from both states about what senators are up for election. When I found out that Kentucky had elected Rand Paul, I laughed, very hard. They are so screwed.

Then I saw that we lost the senator that helped make sure that my cousin who has Cystic Fibrosis can actually get insurance.

I think I need to begin stocking up on non-perishable items until the next election.

[Agdune]

Right, so it looks like Australia would be well-off to somehow try to cut itself free from the American finance system in preparation for the next 2 years of almost no new policies, followed presumably by a new Tea-party related president who is probably going to ram the country into the ground through fantastic financial mismanagement?

Wait, we can't? Shit. Well, plus one point for society effectively shooting itself in the foot in times of trouble. Hopefully I'll have finished my degree/s by the time the next big recession hits and starts affecting Aus.

[RedKing]

You know, there is a real possibility of the senate coming out 50/50 or very close to 50/50, which MIGHT force the senate to stop squabbling, but I wouldn't bet heavily on it.

You have a strange understanding of how the Senate "works". A 50/50 split would virtually ensure non-stop squabbling. Especially with the phantom filibuster rule that basically makes a majority meaningless until you get to 60 votes (unless you're the Democrats, in which case it's meaningless even then).


The more I think about it, the more I think our political divide in America is just a problem of demographics.
Republicans do very well in places where there's not actually many people, and thus where the frontier mentality of self-reliant, armed to the teeth isolation actually kinda makes sense.
Democrats do very well in dense urban areas where government-provided social services and measured gun control make a hell of a lot more sense.

Solution: Either we need to move everyone into cities or force urban dwellers to go forth and till the soil (oddly enough, the same solution that the Maoists used when the rural peasants were far-left and the urban intellectuals were the conservatives).

[Earthquake Damage]

Either we need to move everyone into cities or force urban dwellers to go forth and till the soil

There's also that whole "small federal government" idea.  You know, the one where the states mostly govern themselves?  But that's just silly.

[Eugenitor]

Sure thing, so long as we get to establish borders between states.

[RedKing]

Either we need to move everyone into cities or force urban dwellers to go forth and till the soil

There's also that whole "small federal government" idea.  You know, the one where the states mostly govern themselves?  But that's just silly.

Great idea in theory. In practice, however, each ideological camp has different portions of government they allow to bloat. (Except maybe the Libertarians, who would prefer to just do away with a Federal government as much as possible.)

Case in point: For all the posturing by Republicans as budget hawks, I am willing to bet good money that the defense budget will not be reduced AT ALL in the next two years, even if you don't count the discretionary spending on Afghanistan in the equation.


The other problem is that in many cases, allowing the states to determine the legality of certain issues creates a major problem in a society where interstate commerce and travel is far more common than it was in 1781. Gay marriage, abortion, euthanasia and marijuana being four good hot-button examples. It just doesn't work to have a situation where you can be a law-abiding citizen in one state and a criminal in another simply by virtue of crossing state lines within the same country. Or be married in one place and unmarried in another. Or--and this is the most dramatic example--be a free man in one state and a slave in another.



 

[Shade-o]

Yay democracy republic!

[smigenboger]

So, how long 'till the GOP takes away my student health insurance?

[Eugenitor]

Not until 2012. Nothing's going to happen until then, at least not legislatively. I mean nothing. I'll be surprised if they actually manage to pass a budget. Obama's best off not even bothering with the legislative branch until election time rolls around again.

But he'll try anyway, because something irredeemable about his mental makeup makes him think he can make useful compromises with evil and stupid.