Progressives did win big on ballot questions!

[Playinghardball]

I love #'s 3 and 4

[Fred Sanders]

1. Berkley imposed a penny an ounce Sugar Tax on the poison they pump into soda....now this vital

tax on poison is 1 for 32 in referendums, BIG Soda and Big Money always won before....applause to Berkley, one place in America values common sense.

[KT2000]

2. No D or R next to it

The RW has been successful in trashing the Democrats - not for their positions but because of the nefarious info spread on the internet and RW media. Many people who vote R are doing so because they believe Democrats are bad even though they don't know what they stand for.
An initiative is judged on its merits, not party affiliation.
If people understood what Democrats stand for they would likely vote for them.

[FiveGoodMen]

8. But the Dems do absolutely nothing to tell their side of the story

I think they don't really have their own side.

That's why we're all fucked: We have worshiped the letter D rather than the good of the people.

[KT2000]

9. exactly!!

the RW is the only one with a narrative - even though most of it is not true.

[kentuck]

3. How do we explain?

All those votes for those progressive ballot questions...

And so few progressives voting for any candidates?

Unless a lot of Republicans voted for the questions?

[Barack_America]

10. Because ballot proposals come with a lot of text that explains...

....their scope and purpose. When it's all spelled out in front of them, Americans tend to take a more liberal position, because Americans are more liberal than they realize.

Candidate selections don't come with any sample positions or platform goals, just the letter after their name indicating which brand they represent.

[myrna minx]

4. When progressive ideas are actually framed from a progressive perspective, we win.

When we cede our arguments to inhabit the flawed, faulty and dangerous framing of the right wing, we are defensively validating their their flawed, faulty and dangerous ideas. We are accepting their rules and ideology as just a difference of opinion and not flawed logic and failed philosophy.

See: the debt/deficit/chained CPI to "save" SS/Keystone to provide jobs (uh, yeah - 50 jobs) and on and on...

The Democratic Party gives us mixed messages. Do we support the tried and true Keynesian economics or must we live within the frame of the disastrous Straussian/Randian economics?

[loyalsister]

5. Missouri also rejected a couple of bad ones

Sham "early voting" amendment

Amendment 6

Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to permit voting in person or by mail for a period of six business days prior to and including the Wednesday before the election day in general elections, but only if the legislature and the governor appropriate and disburse funds to pay for the increased costs of such voting?

Amendment 6 came about as the result of action by the Missouri Legislature that cut off an initiative petition for a different early voting measure, which would have allowed early voting at various polling places and times for six weeks leading up to an election.

___________________________________________

"Performance based" teacher firings based on evaluations from outside groups...

Amendment 3

Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to:
- require teachers to be evaluated by a standards based performance evaluation system for which each local school district must receive state approval to continue receiving state and local funding;
- require teachers to be dismissed, retained, demoted, promoted and paid primarily using quantifiable student performance data as part of the evaluation system;
- require teachers to enter into contracts of three years or fewer with public school districts; and
- prohibit teachers from organizing or collectively bargaining regarding the design and implementation of the teacher evaluation system?



But passed these.......................

Change in evidence rules

Amendment 2

Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended so that it will be permissible to allow relevant evidence of prior criminal acts to be admissible in prosecutions for crimes of a sexual nature involving a victim under eighteen years of age?
If more resources are needed to defend increased prosecutions additional costs to governmental entities could be at least $1.4 million annually, otherwise the fiscal impact is expected to be limited.

Change in budgeting procedure

Amendment 10

Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to require the governor to pay the public debt, to prohibit the governor from relying on revenue from legislation not yet passed when proposing a budget, and to provide a legislative check on the governor’s decisions to restrict funding for education and other state services?


Read more: http://www.kirksvilledailyexpress.com/article/20141031/News/141039733#ixzz3IQOlVksU

[Blue_In_AK]

6. Alaska got big wins on all four liberal ballot measures,

something we can take a little comfort in.

[bravenak]

7. Yes we did!!

It is all I have to comfort myself. At least the minimum wage will keep rising and young people won't have to go to jail for a joint. That will help the economy.