Looking Back on this Primary Season

It has Been an interesting one.
On the Democrat side of course we had Obama win it easily, but interestingly, not unanimously at least not if the DNC had been honest about it.
We had Randall Terry, someone I was fairly familiar with already though his running as a Democrat seemed rather gimmicky.  He is known as being a pro-life advocate.  He was only running to get ad time and to try to force the issue on Obama.  He also said he didn't want to take votes away from Republicans, hence running as a Democrat.  He actually managed to make a good enough showing in Oklahoma to earn him some delegates, which the DNC denied him, claiming him not to be a legitimate candidate.
There were several others who stole votes from Obama but none so much as No Preference.  Evan criminal Keith Russell Judd in jail beat Obama in several counties earning him 40% in West Virginia.

Now the Republican Race.
There was no defined front-runner for a long time, in fact it seemed every week or two there was a different one.
Herman Cain was bizarre, the more I think back the more I realize he may not have been serious.  Quoting a song from a Pokemon movie (only admitting its true origin once he announced he was dropping out).  His 999 plan was nonsensical at times when he would mention it in questions completely unrelated to the economy.  As far as the scandals, it is always possible that the women could have just been trying to get attention but in one particular interview, he seemed unable to articulate a defense.
Newt Gingrich tried to mention Ronald Reagan as often as possible.  People liked him because he was the hero of the Republican victories of 1994 but in reality he was quite a compromiser.
Rick Santorum was firmly pro-life and for that I admire him  but he still had an aggressive foreign policy. The fact that he questioned the Constitutionality of the NDAA was reassuring. He came out stronger than expected early on in the actual election cycle.
Ron Paul probably the most Constitutional of them all.  His policies were catching on even among some of the other candidates who would mention things like audition the Federal Reserve, something  few but Paul had mentioned before this point (Also Rick Perry mentioning wanting to end three Federal agencies and turning to Paul after forgetting the third Paul indicated it was five).  He was actually polling in first and Second going into the first election.  He stayed in the race the whole time until the convention all the while earning delegates, but some of these were stolen from him by them either being replaced or being denied the ability to be seated. He did end up getting quite a few at the convention but not as many as he was entitled.
Mitt Romney who ended up being the nominee was a big flip flopper  he had at one point held positions in opposition to what he now claims.
At about the time of the convention they RNC voted to change the rules with Boehner in charge, he declared it in his favor by voice vote even though there was not an obvious majority in his favor.  Video leaked showing that he had actually just read what the teleprompter said.  These changes negatively effected future prospects of grassroots candidates.

Voter Guide 2012 General

Prop. 30: No  It’s  tax increase they say it’s for the schools, but they have tried that before, many times and it never works, it ends up getting lost in the bureaucracy and never ends up going where they say it will.  Jerry Brown is pushing for this and he says he will increase taxes even if it fails, but why give him the satisfaction of a successful threat? 

Prop 31: I still haven’t figured this one out, it seems to reallocate funds.

Prop 32:  Yes Unions should not be able to force their members to supported something they do not. I support free association and people can be a member of a union if they choose but also be able to not join a union if they choose and not support Union causes

Prop. 33:  This one deals with a change I the way auto insurance is handled, but it is rather confusing so I am going with No.

Prop 34: Let me explain the situation here first.  I can actually understand the argument from both sides on this one. Yes, overall California does not abuse the death penalty like Texas does but the issue is, once it is decided it is irreversible.  There have been too many death penalty cases that were posthumously found to have been unfortunate.  In a world where we have a perfect justice system but still murders then we could keep it but we don’t live in such a world.  Some people will argue that a quicker appeals process for death row inmates will save money but that only increases the chance of mistakes.  We could make life sentences less cushy.  On the other hand there is always a risk of escape from inmates serving life and murder is such a serious crime as to deserve a serious punishment, but as I have stated there is a risk to the innocent.

Prop 35: Yes-  This increases the penalties on human traffickers which are currently very weak.  The only group I see presenting an argument against it is an erotic services company.

Prop 36:  Each felony needs to be looked at on a case to case basis some need to be one strike.

Prop 37: No , this will only give the FDA more power to regulate food and they are a bully organization, it was government regulation that got us into the mess  that it is claiming to fix so more government regulation  will only make the problem worse.  Companies should be able to voluntarily label their food in fact the regulations they now face which make it harder for non-GMO foods to get on the market is part of what causes this whole mess in the first place.  This is about consumer choice. http://reason.com/archives/2012/09/15/why-californias-gmo-labeling-law-isnt-th

Prop 38:  No- This is very similar to prop. 30 only with different numbers.  No for the same reason.

Prop 39: No- this is a tax increase with the state purpose of creating more jobs but that won’t work.  It specifically refers to alternative energy jobs but we shouldn’t be subsidizing energy and alternative energy hasn’t gotten to a point of being profitable yet.

Prop40: Yes- It reaffirms the citizen redistricting committee and opposition has been withdrawn.  It is rather confusing because a yes reaffirms what has already gone into effect.

Elections around the country, these are candidates I am most enthusiastic about.

The reelection campaigns of Tom McClintock (CA), Justin Amash  (MI), Walter B.  Jones, they have been some of the handful of National Politicians that have actually respected the Constitution.

Barry Hinckley (Senate from Rhode Island)

 Thomas Massie (House, Kentucky)

 Steve Stockman (House, TX)

Kurt Bills (Senate from Minnesota)

Jeff Flake for Arizona Senate

Importantly, these people are Pro-life and have opposed the NDAA 2012