With the election Tuesday, the American People had a chance to give their opinion in the most direct and influential manner possible within the American System of Government; voting. The people voiced their opinions and what happened was somewhat expected, somewhat joyous, somewhat upsetting, and very much representative of the world we live in. As has been the fallout from those upset that things didn’t go totally their way. Renewed concerns about the irrelevance of voting especially amongst us Black Folk who found members of our race on the losing end of 3 Governors’ races; Florida, Georgia, and Maryland.
While these loses were upsetting for many of the Black People hoping to be a part of history making in their respective states, the larger liberal movement, of which the majority of Black Folk consider themselves to be a part, did have an overall good election. Democrats received the lion’s share of the votes taking control of the house in congress, and also improving their control locally. They increased their control over total state governments, meaning having control over the governorship and both chambers of congress, from 8 states to 14. They increased their control of legislatures in states from 14 to 18, and they increased their control of legislative chambers from 31 to 37 (legislative chambers are local houses and senates). While these are all great gains, they are also modest gains falling below the average and on the lower end of midterm changes during which the controlling party usually loses control. In this case, the Republicans maintained control of the senate and of the majority of state legislatures, and even though Republicans lost 6 governors seats, they still maintain control of the majority of them with 26 State Governors seats. So the results are a mixed bag, and while the majority of the news coverage has been explaining that mixed bag. Today on lessons from the screen we are going to talk about what this mixed bag means for us as Black People. We are going to be talking about the 3 governors races, what the difference between the house and senate are on the federal level, and what it means to be a race of people that live predominantly in red states while identifying politically with liberals. We are also going to be talking about some of the common misconceptions surrounding voting and the American government. We have a full plate on our return show, so let's dig in.
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Patrick Irvineis a lover of learning and analyzer of anything that can be analyzed, even if it probably shouldn't be. Categories
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August 2021
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