Well, election day has come & gone -- I voted, did you?
If you read my last post, you've probably figured that I'm disappointed that Amendment 3 didn't pass -- and I am, truly. It was something that I truly believe would have helped cut down on smoking; however, this is how democracy works. The fact that it only missed by about 62,000 votes (which is 3% of the total cast) gives me hope that, eventually, my state will realize what's up. (on the same track, California's Prop 86, which would have raised taxes on cigarettes by
$2.60 per pack, only lost by about 4.3%. And my state complains about 80 cents?!?
BUT, let's look at the positives -- here are some of things that PASSED in the State of Missouri:
Constitutional Amendment #2: Constitutional amendment to allow any stem cell research that federal law allows (this one had a smaller margin than #3 had) -- three cheers for scientific progress!
Constitutional Amendment #7:Constitutional amendment to require legislators, statewide elected officials and judges to forfeit state pensions following felony conviction or removal from office by impeachment or for misconduct and to allow voter referendums on pay proposed by a citizens commission (umm....duh?)
Proposition B:Proposition to increase the minimum wage to $6.50 an hour, adjust the figure yearly to match the consumer price index and make other changes
And in my county, the Special School District got their tax increase.
In addition, it seems that (at this point), the Democrats have taken the House (227 seats to 194) and are sharing the Senate (49/49). We'll also have our first female Speaker of the House, California Democrat Nancy Pelosi.
All in all, I got everything I wanted, except Amendment 3 -- it's like Christmas morning, and I got everything I asked Santa for, except that pony...
