Once again, NH has surprised me. In 2010, when the Tea
Party/John Birch/Free Stater contingent took over our state it was a surprise.
A lot of respected legislators were ousted, and replaced with people in
possession of varying degrees of competence and sanity. The new majority
promised a laser like focus on job creation, yet created policy that cost our
state jobs, and increased unemployment. They turned the laser on social issues,
and worked tirelessly to regulate ovaries, homosexuals, and poor people. They
cut revenue streams, ensuring that NH would continue to be unable to afford the
kind of investments in infrastructure and education needed to move our state
into the future.
Thanks to the last legislature, NH became fodder for
comedians on late night TV. We went from being a small state that no one paid
much attention to until presidential primary season, to being a national and
even international mockery. The volume knob on NH crazytunes was turned up a
little bit higher each week that the legislature was in session. That probably
wasn’t what most of you were hoping for when you cast your ballots in 2010.
You were probably hoping for property tax relief. You didn’t
get any. Instead you got Free Stater Jennifer Coffey filing a bill to put up
warning signs at the MA border. The voters in her district firmly ousted her.
You got birthers – state legislators using their status to attempt to prove
that President Obama is not a US citizen. Local birther Laurie Pettengill was gerrymandered
right out of her seat by her own party. Harry Accornero was not given a second
term by the voters of Laconia. You also got a bill to put quotes from the Magna
Carta in new legislation, and a bill calling for vegetarian diets in our
prisons and jails. Sponsor Robert Kingsbury was ousted by his constituents in
Laconia.
Rep. Gregory Sorg last year chaired a committee aimed at
ensuring NH received no federal aid for anything. In his report, he decried
weatherization and fuel assistance programs, saying that NH residents should
arrange their affairs so that they required no such assistance. As I wrote at
the time:
“In short, we must all manage our affairs so that we do not
get old, do not develop a serious health problem, do not lose our jobs, and do
not suffer from sudden poverty caused by the destruction of the US economy.
Based on these findings, Rep. Sorg should be expecting 3 ghosts to visit him on
Christmas Eve. “
Apparently the voters in his district concurred. Rep. Sorg
was voted out.
On the local level, Frank McCarthy was ousted. In a one on
one conversation, Frank can be quite personable. His public persona, however,
is probably what cost him the election. For two years he’s written bellicose
diatribes to the newspaper, filled with inaccuracies and right wing propaganda.
At the House candidate’s forum I attended, he didn’t need the microphone. His
bellowing was audible in the next county. On the next planet.
Extremist Norman Tregenza was soundly defeated in his
attempt to win the newly gerrymandered floterial district. Voters were
apparently not won over by his laser like focus on the issues of Ron Paul and
the John Birch Society – or by the ugly campaign he ran.
Ovide Lamontagne lost his second attempt at the corner
office. In his concession speech, he complained that his positions on issues
had been distorted. That translates as: they told the truth about me. The media
was intent on presenting him as some sort of moderate, but his stance on social
issues revealed him to be anything but. Lamontagne has now lost three elections
because he’s just too extreme for NH. That’s the take away from this election.
NH is many strange and wonderful things, but we aren’t a state that is willing
to be governed by far right ideologues.
On some level, I suspect that many local Republicans are
aware that ceding their party to the extremists was a bad idea. They’ve paid a
high price for allowing racists, homophobes, and misogynists to speak for them.
By far and away, the biggest mistake made by the GOP on
every level (state and national) was the war on women. They might have gotten
away with restricting abortion, but trying to restrict contraception proved to
be a bridge to nowhere. GOP spokesman Rush Limbaugh called college student
Sandra Fluke a slut and a prostitute for testifying before Congress about a mandate that insurance companies cover birth control. That was spun quite successfully
and dishonestly as “taxpayer funded birth control.”
By far and away
the most damaging move made by the GOP was allowing itself to become the party
of redefining rape. Missouri Congressman Todd Akin told us that in the case of
“legitimate rape” a woman can’t get pregnant, because “the female body has ways
of shutting that down.” Indiana Republican Richard Mourdock told us that a
pregnancy resulting from rape is something God intended to happen. All over the
country Republican men were telling women that a rape baby was going to be a
little blessing for them – and one that they would be forced to bear. Vice
Presidential candidate Paul Ryan was part of an effort to redefine rape, attempting
to ensure that only victims of “forcible rape” would be eligible for federally
funded abortions.
Women across the country proved that they have ways to shut
THAT nonsense down. They voted Akin and Mourdock out. A record number of women
will be US Senators in 2013. New Hampshire has made history with an all woman
Congressional delegation: both of our US Senators and both of our newly elected
Representatives are women. We elected a female governor. Record numbers of
women will be serving in the US Senate and the US House.
There are women now serving in every single state legislative
chamber. It’s shameful that it’s taken all this time to get there, but we are
there now. The GOP would do well to take notice.
© sbruce 2012
Published as an op-ed in the November 8, 2012 Conway Daily Sun newspaper.
1 comment:
100% and you summed it up perfectly. On a local level, we certainly demonstrated one unanimous voice. The fanatical anti-everything's will hopefully take stock. Unlikely but they have no choice. Sourdick and Aiken and hopefully Romney (and Guinta and Ovide ovary) will NEVER be heard of again - period. Early this a.m. on NPR I heard an interview with a national GOP spokesman who said something to the effect that "they" needed to express themselves in a different way next time. This translates to lying better and more efficiently and successfully blocking hidden audio equipment. The right wing has proved itself to be liars, cheaters and spiteful individuals. Ryan will no doubt be "developed" by his spin machine party BUT in this final analysis post election, we see clear proof statistically and realistically that the GOP is the party of old white slavers clutching their weapons and hatred. If all they have are Ryan's, Rand Paul's and Limbaugh's they have nothing. Extinction would be good for them and us as a nation. We're proud this day.
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