GLIMMERS OF HOPE

It is difficult to find too many silver linings in an election in
which voters in many states seemed willing to tax or ban anything that
could be demonized cleverly enough. Perhaps there is comfort to be
taken in the innate cantankerousness of American voters, who
confounded most predictions of the so called experts on turnout and
voting patterns. And, beneath what appears to be not so much a
Democratic sweep as a rejection of Republican haplessness, some
encouraging developments emerged.

How can one not delight in the election of a former pro wrestler as
governor of a major state? Jess "The Body" Ventura is not an utter
novice, having been mayor of the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park.
He decided to run when the legislature failed to "give back" a
burgeoning state government surplus to taxpayers. His message is
anti-tax economic conservatism and social tolerance - or, as
Minneapolis St. Paul Star Tribune writer Bob Von Sternberg put it: "He
explains it as classic small '1' libertarianism."

That such a candidate could win in Minnesota - and utterly flummox the
two major parties in the process - can't be all bad.

Then there was the victory of medical-marijuana initiatives in Alaska,
Nevada,Washington and Oregon, along with the reaffirmation of the drug
medicalization initiative Arizona voters passed in 1996. These votes
came in the face of increasingly shrill opposition from relevant
authority figures, including the censorious "drug czar" and three
former presidents, who took time to lecture the people on the
awfulness of it all.

Congress even refused to allow federal funds to be used to count the
votes on a medical-marijuana initiative in Washington, D.C. But the
people decided, at least on this narrow issue, to let compassion and
common sense overrule stern lectures from the anti-drug warriors.

In Washington state, voters passed a measure to prohibit government
entities from discriminating or granting preferential treatment to
people based on race, sex, color or ethnicity, a virtual copy of Prop.
209, which California voters approved two years ago.

And the verdict on hunting was mixed. California banned those traps.
Ohio defeated a ban on hunting mourning doves and Minnesota amended
its constitution to declare formally that hunting and fishing are part
of the state's heritage.

So the people showed important glimmers of independence. That's
something to build on.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry