It appears that we finally have all of the election results in (save the results of an automatic recount of a statewide proposition that few people care all that much about). What can we make of it all?
One thing is clear: Voters don't know what in the hell to think.
This became apparent, at least to me, when Arizona voters resoundingly handed the Legislature and all of the statewide offices to the slash-and-burn, no-new-taxes Republicans, while simultaneously—and overwhelmingly—choosing to preserve the state's Land Conservation Fund and the early-childhood-development First Things First program. This happened mere months after voters ponied up and agreed to temporarily raise the state sales tax by a half-percent per dollar to help ease the state budget crunch.
So, voters said: We want the no-tax budget-cutters in charge ... but we actually don't mind some taxes being raised, and we don't really want services cut.
Voters don't know what in the hell to think.
I bring this up, because a lot of politicians are proclaiming that the voters have spoken, damn it, and therefore, we must (insert self-serving action here). Keep in mind that whenever a politician says this, they're full of crap, because the "voters" often send contradictory messages.
Besides, if politicians really cared what voters say (at least according to polls), gays would be able to openly serve in the military, and Republicans would not be talking about repealing much of the "Obamacare" health-care reform bill (considering that most of the elements of the plan, when broken out individually, are wildly popular). Yet they are.
