The American people are idiots

[A Black Falcon]

So in Maine this election, things were both the same as in most of the rest of the country, and a little different.

The main difference is that turnout was fairly high -- it was over 50%, higher than every other state except Oregon. Sadly, our complete idiot right-wing Governor won re-election, and the 2nd district US House seat went to the Republicans, and they took the state legislature Senate, as well (though thankfully not the house).

So... what happened?

Well, first, there was that national trend against the Democrats. Yeah, turnout was high, but a lot of that was motivated nutjobs voting out of fear for the Republicans.

That wasn't all of it, though. Maine's second congressional district is where the worst of the problem was. Maine has two US House districts, the first down south here, and the second taking up the majority of the state up north. In the first district, the Democratic candidate for governor won, our US House member won a crushing re-election, and we held on to most, though sadly not all, of the legislature seats. But in the second district, there was a horrible wipeout, one of the worst years there for the Dems in a long time. This is despite the Democratic governor candidate being a multi-term US House member from the second district! He'd won in that district quite a few times... but this time lost very badly, badly enough to overwhelm his (perhaps too narrow, but definite) victory in district 1. Why? I've seen several reasons given, and they're all VERY stupid but true:

1) There was a bear-baiting referrendum on the ballot, to ban hunting bears with bait, dog packs, and traps. It's a great idea, and I hope we pass it eventually, but it failed again, by about the same percentage as the last time it was on the ballot ten years ago.... and it seems to have really helped draw out a big anti-bear-baiting-and-Democrats crowd in the second district. Ugh!

2) Ebola fearmongering peaked right before the election. Remember that "Ebola nurse" thing? She just HAD to be living in Maine's district 2 and came back there not long before the election, to quite a commotion, giving our idiot governor a perfect chance to maximize his stupid Ebola fearmongering. Yeah, Ebola is scary, but SHE DIDN'T HAVE IT!

3) The Democratic candidate for governor, Mike MIchaud, may have won elections in the second district for decades, but within the past year, he announced that he is gay. This was perhaps a mistake, because in many 2nd district towns, Michaud under-performed the US House candidate. She also lost, but Michaud probably lost by more. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of anti-gay people out there, and some of them probably voted against him because he came out. :(

... Doesn't say much good about this state that these four things (the three above plus the national climate) actually was a winning combination, but it was, terribly enough. :bummed:

If Congress's approval rating is 11% on a good day (and I'm aware that this rating accounts for those who are unhappy with Congressional Democrats as well), then why was over 90% of that Congress reelected?

Gerrymandering, mostly. That is the number one reason. Most congressional seats are so absurdly gerrymandered, more towards the Republicans than towards the Democrats, that it takes a LOT for an incumbent to actually lose.

And beyond that, a lot of those people who hate Congress don't vote, and people in general frequently don't hate their member of congress as much as they do congress as a whole. Combine those factors and 90% of incumbents win. The only way to change this is to get more people to vote and to somehow do away with gerrymandering. Redistricting reform, to get rid of gerrymandering and all those states rigged against the Democrats, is something this nation desperately needs, but it doesn't look likely to happen, frustratingly enough. The Republicans like things as they are, for fairly obvious reasons. :(