More exciting than it needed to be
Nov. 8th, 2020 10:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
petrea_mitchellFuture political scientists will glance at the results of the election, see that Biden won by a comfortable margin, and be all "so what was all the drama about?".
The emerging narrative is that the results are about a return to the status quo. In 2016, it goes, lots of people wanted things shaken up, and now people feel that things have been shaken sufficiently. In fact this narrative was already emerging before the election. I saw it summed up best in this Politico article: "In short, Biden’s promise is to be a post-emetic presidency. Saltines and ginger ale for starters, and something more solid once we feel ready."
Oregon's little moment in the national spotlight is that we passed a measure legalizing magic mushrooms. Well, not quite. Psilobycin will allowed for therapeutic uses, but tightly regulated, and only starting in 2023
The statistic I'm happiest about is that this election had the highest turnout since the year 1900. A lot has been written lately about how fragile democracy can turn out to be, but the point at which things really start to break down is when people disengage from the democratic process completely. If that many people still feel that voting is worth it, then I think we're okay for a while.
It is probably not going to be a surprise to anyone that I voted Biden-Harris. Biden was in my "meh" tier in the primaries-- nothing especially exciting about him, nothing especially wrong with him either-- but I would have voted for just about anyone over Trump, including many members of his own current party, so this was not a tough decision.
Despite everything he has said to the contrary, I do believe that Trump will leave office peacefully at the appointed time. I also believe that by then he'll be claiming that he never wanted a second term anyway. In the meantime, he's spent all his time since the result was announced playing golf, and if he decides he just wants to cut class and keep doing that for the rest of his term... that's actually the best thing I can imagine him doing with that time.
Miscellaneous lower-level stuff I'm happy about: Oregon also passed a package of measures aiming to shift the emphasis of drug policing from punishment to treatment and recovery, Massachusetts struck a small blow for right to repair, and Florida is raising its minimum wage to $15. That Florida did this while also staying red is a pretty good sign that the Republican base is making a permanent shift toward populism. Sorry, small-government conservatives.
The emerging narrative is that the results are about a return to the status quo. In 2016, it goes, lots of people wanted things shaken up, and now people feel that things have been shaken sufficiently. In fact this narrative was already emerging before the election. I saw it summed up best in this Politico article: "In short, Biden’s promise is to be a post-emetic presidency. Saltines and ginger ale for starters, and something more solid once we feel ready."
Oregon's little moment in the national spotlight is that we passed a measure legalizing magic mushrooms. Well, not quite. Psilobycin will allowed for therapeutic uses, but tightly regulated, and only starting in 2023
The statistic I'm happiest about is that this election had the highest turnout since the year 1900. A lot has been written lately about how fragile democracy can turn out to be, but the point at which things really start to break down is when people disengage from the democratic process completely. If that many people still feel that voting is worth it, then I think we're okay for a while.
It is probably not going to be a surprise to anyone that I voted Biden-Harris. Biden was in my "meh" tier in the primaries-- nothing especially exciting about him, nothing especially wrong with him either-- but I would have voted for just about anyone over Trump, including many members of his own current party, so this was not a tough decision.
Despite everything he has said to the contrary, I do believe that Trump will leave office peacefully at the appointed time. I also believe that by then he'll be claiming that he never wanted a second term anyway. In the meantime, he's spent all his time since the result was announced playing golf, and if he decides he just wants to cut class and keep doing that for the rest of his term... that's actually the best thing I can imagine him doing with that time.
Miscellaneous lower-level stuff I'm happy about: Oregon also passed a package of measures aiming to shift the emphasis of drug policing from punishment to treatment and recovery, Massachusetts struck a small blow for right to repair, and Florida is raising its minimum wage to $15. That Florida did this while also staying red is a pretty good sign that the Republican base is making a permanent shift toward populism. Sorry, small-government conservatives.
