Oh, and On That Election...

Naturally, I'm far from overjoyed by the results. 

The result that has the most direct impact on us is the passage of Proposition 30 (California).  That one is going to smack us in the pocketbook in a most unpleasant way.  It's also an indicator to me (as if I needed any more indicators!) that Californians are utterly committed to going the way of Greece.  They've got the pedal to the metal, and are heading for the cliff.  Except that I think with this election, they've actually done it: they've driven off the cliff.  I don't see much chance of a return to sanity for California after this.  The best that can be hoped for is that there will be a future opportunity to come back in and rebuild from the ashes.  We're going to be leaving within the next couple of years, and maybe much sooner.  This was the final straw for us, and I don't think we'll be alone.  I had so hoped that Californians would climb back in off the shelf on this one...

Obama's win I'm much less upset about.  First of all, unlike Proposition 30, I was expecting this one to go the wrong way.  Second (and thankfully), we still have a split Congress; the Republicans are still firmly in control of the House.  Gridlock will ensue, I hope.  There's one immediate concern, though: the fiscal cliff and what will or will not be done about it.  Anything at all could happen now, in the lame duck Congress.  I wouldn't put any compromise past the big-government Republicans.

In the longer term, I haven't quite reached the level of despair for our future at the national level that I have for California.  The situations really are quite different. 

In California, we have a progressive executive and an overwhelmingly progressive Assembly and Senate, with a ludicrously ineffective minority of conservatives – and the trend is for more progressive members.  The results for San Diego County elections were instructive: it looks like a long-time big-government conservative Representative (Bilbray) has lost to a progressive opponent (Peters), and it looks like our new city mayor will be a flaming progressive (Filner).   San Diego has long been the largest city in California with any semblance of a conservative government, but now that is crumbling before our eyes. 

At the Federal level, things are not quite so bleak.  We have a Senate with a tiny Democratic majority, and a House with a solid Republican majority.  Obama won't be able to pursue his progressive agenda without an effective opposition.  There will still be ballot box opportunities to get the Federal government back on track.  While it won't be good for our country, I do believe it's true that four more years of Obama-style progressivism will breed more, not fewer, conservative-leaning voters.  Hillary Clinton is the most likely Democratic candidate in 2016.  The Republicans have a huge field of quality candidates to choose from, and some of them are not big-government Republicans.  It remains to be seen, of course, whether the Republicans will be smart enough to choose a small-government candidate (like, say, Paul Ryan).  But my real point is that they will have a chance to do so.  So I haven't quite reached full on despair at the Federal level. 

I see no such possibilities for California.  I see an endless spiral, downward, for California.  Man, I really, really, hate to say that...