Most spectators have focused on the social reversal that resulted in Republicans taking control of the House and Senate in Washington following this week’s votes. However, another trend emerged that conservatives must pay attention to: Their plan won support where people might not otherwise hope due to strong democracy.
The trend of liberal outcomes in vote referenda across the country has been documented by sources as diverse as Politico and The Wall Street Journal‘s editorial page. Even in the most erratic of settings, the outcomes provide a crucial tool for liberals to advance their agenda.
Suitable Trend
Voters in some cases voted conservatively by rejecting left-wing poll initiatives. Citizens in seven states rejected several ranked-choice ballot measures, and Alaska may have just repealed its personal ranked-choice procedure. ( Ranked-choice voting did advance in the District of Columbia. )
Also, proposals to remove restrictions on nearby rent control and undermine the state’s property taxes cover, failed in California. While ballot measures on the minimum wage were successful in Arizona, Missouri, and Alaska, the latter two states rejected efforts to raise the minimum wage. The former may have been attributed to the effects of the Golden State’s$ 20 minimum wage for fast-food restaurants.
In other instances, conservatives achieved true plan wins, rather than just stopping more liberal assaults. Witness Proposition 36 in California, which restored fines for murder that a 2014 ballot measure had weakened. Every California region voted in favor of the ballot measure this year, demonstrating how fed up are Golden State voters with Democrat supermajority rule’s prevalent chaos. The trend even accounts for George Gascon’s almost 20-point defeat in the Los Angeles District Attorney’s reelection campaign, which was supported by George Soros.
Wherefore Traditional Work?
Politico noted that referendums have been a significant component of the Left’s strategy to improve its mission in its analysis of the results of the vote measure:
Primary democracy has long been used by liberal groups to address issues like the expansion of Medicaid, minimum wage increases, and legalizing marijuana. In the wake of 2022 ‘s]Supreme Court ] Dobbs]v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ] decision, ballot measures have played a pivotal role in abortion-rights activists ‘ efforts to protect the procedure from Republican-led efforts to restrict it. The benefits of this year’s election raise questions about how liberals and Democrats who were previously in office at the national level may use ballot measures to retaliate…
But there’s another big question that Politico ( perhaps unsurprisingly ) did n’t ask: Particularly given their many successes on this year’s ballot measures, why are n’t conservatives taking the initiative ( pun intended ) and using direct democracy to advance their priorities, particularly in Democrat-controlled states?
I had to put up with defending myself against state referendums to pass the pro-abortion mission since I first asked about it about 18 months ago. As the saying goes, the best defense is often a great offence, and liberals need their equivalent of an institution like The Fairness Project, which supports communist work on problems like Medicaid growth, pregnancy, the minimum wage, and paid sick leave.
Republicans have plenty of excellent problems on which they can run successful vote campaigns, including:
Work Needs: As it happens, South Dakota approved a measure on this issue this month, one month after an expert referendum on job needs won roughly 80 percent help ( no, that’s not a typo ) in Wisconsin. Why not try to export this policy to states like California if up to four in five voters in a swing state support it?
Energy Mandates: When it comes to fuel economy standards, California is leading the way with mandates galore, all of which raise the price of gasoline. rather than allowing Gov. What would be a de facto referendum on whether voters in the Golden State favor$ 6 per gallon gasoline? If Governor Newsom wanted to move those efforts elsewhere, why not advance a measure to repeal many or all of those standards?
Although efforts in this area failed on November 5, efforts to pass a constitutional amendment that gave students a right to choose between two schools in Colorado, another referendum that gave them a choice between schools in Kentucky, and Nebraskan voters who overrode a tuition scholarship program, all suffered disappointments. Conservatives should not be afraid to ask the Democrats why they want to keep poor children stuck in failing schools, for the benefit of the teachers ‘ union Mafia, as the Republican Party is increasingly trying to attract voters from all races and colors.
As the saying goes, you fail at 100 percent of the chances you never take. The success of this month’s results demonstrate why conservatives must start organizing to place winnable and popular measures on upcoming statewide elections. When a tool in our arsenal is staring us in the face that can help fix the problem, we as a nation cannot consign people to years or decades of failed policies as Democrats. Let’s get to work.
