Four Reasons to Vote Today

See below

1: Obamacare

While we work toward electing a better chief executive in 2016, now is a great time to start building a Republican majority in the Senate, both to take such steps as they can in 2015 and to pass a full repeal and replacement of Obamacare in 2017.

National Review has a timely editorial on the subject: “Obamacare: Unpopular as Ever”

. . . Republicans have not acquiesced to the president’s signature piece of legislation — and they certainly have not been quiet about it on the campaign trail. At The Weekly Standard, Jeffrey Anderson notes that during the week of October 6–12, Republican Senate candidates ran more than 11,000 anti-Obamacare ads, according to Kantar Media’s Campaign Media Analysis Group (CMAG). . . . Indeed, that week Democrats themselves ran 500 anti-Obamacare ads.

2: Federal Judges

Why bother voting? you might say.  Some judge will just undo whatever we do.

That’s true, but that’s exactly why voting is so important, and specifically why it really matters whether Republicans take control of the Senate.  Yes, federal judges do arrogate to themselves power that is not lawfully theirs, most recently and most dramatically in their sweeping redefinition of marriage across the country:  It is still true that the vast majority of the states where the people or their elected legislators had a say (more than thirty states) chose to keep the traditional definition of marriage—even California!  In the vast majority of the states where marriage has been redefined, the redefinition has been imposed from above by unelected federal judges.

The president appoints all federal judges, but each appointment must be approved by a majority vote of the Senate.  If the Senate stays in the hands of the Democrats, expect President Obama to appoint more radical leftists like Pamela Harris (see reports on several of Obama’s judicial nominees so far from the Judicial Action Group).

3: State Judges

Depending on your state, you can actually vote for your local and state judges.  A lot of people don’t vote all the way down the ticket to the judicial races, but judges really matter (and your vote is extra powerful, because so many other voters are leaving those spaces blank).

In the Cincinnati area, for example, voters have a chance to unseat Judge Jerome Metz, who tried to keep the Sharonville late-term abortion clinic open earlier this year when it failed to meet state regulations (as discussed, e.g., on this blog), and replace him with Charles Miller, who is endorsed by both Cincinnati Right to Life and Ohio Right to Life.

4: State Everything Else

Sure, federal spending is way too high, but so is state spending.  In 2012, the most recent year for which data are available, federal spending was about $3.5 trillion, but total state-government spending was about $1.5 trillion; in other words, 30% of all government spending in the U. S. was at the state (or local) level.  (This is according to U. S. Government Spending .com; his sources are the federal government’s own Government Printing Office and Census Bureau.)

Your state legislators and governor are an untapped opportunity to influence policy and beat back the growth of government:  They control 30% of government spending, and your vote carries a lot of weight (because it’s a smaller pool of voters), but often we’re interested only in the races for Congress and the presidency.

In the Cincinnati area, for example, voters have a real chance to elect a Republican state senator in a district that is 70% Democrat.  Charlie Winburn isn’t the most conservative Republican you’ll ever meet, but he’s actually pretty good, and a lot better than the other guy.

 

Get Excited!

Today is election day!  We have a chance to accomplish some real good today (see above).

Real Clear Politics’ polling averages are currently predicting

• Senate: Republicans 47, Democrats 45, 8 toss-up races (the Senate is currently 55-45 Democrats to Republicans)

• State governors: Republicans 22, Democrats 14, 14 toss-up races (there are currently 29 Republican governors and 21 Democrats)
  —In Wisconsin, Walker up 2.2 points, 47.5 to 45.3%

• House of Representatives: Republicans 226, Democrats 179, 30 toss-up races (the House is currently 233-199 Republicans to Democrats, with 3 vacant seats)

Meanwhile Nate Silver’s blog is calculating a 76% chance that Republicans will take the Senate, and also a 75% chance that Scott Walker will be re-elected governor in Wisconsin.

I know, I know, you don’t like some of the squishy moderate Republicans that are running in some states.  I agree, there’s room for improvement.  Just remember, we play the long game.  There will be time to challenge incumbent Republicans with more conservative younger guys later, in the primaries.  In the meantime, half a loaf is a lot better than nothing at all; we should vote for the more conservative candidate in each race in the general election.

Finally, for your entertainment, Real Clear Politics has a huge round-up of election ads.  Enjoy!