Rights for chickens but not people…
Whether you voted for John McCain or Barack Obama, consensus is that we Americans experienced something historic and amazing at the national level. It was all about change and calls for equality.
Many of us, however, are scratching our heads at the decisions that California voters made on November 4th. Californians chose to protect the rights of chickens, but not the rights of committed gay partners. Contrary to what pundits are saying, we didn’t really experience “social change” here in California. And, according to some peoples’ perspectives, we didn’t really vote for social compassion.
Couple this puzzling scenario with the shopping spree voters went on, approving a bagful of bond and tax measures that further saddle our state and local jurisdictions with significant levels of new debt. Aren’t we in the worst economic crisis in recent history? Isn’t our state broke? Voters seemingly made no connection between the ballots they cast and our state’s overdrawn bank account.
We experienced some version of voter schizophrenia that is tough to explain. There was just no consistency. As political professionals, we look for trends and ideological sweeps but really it’s very individualized when voters enter a voting booth.