Even if proposition 19 passes, people may still be charged for lighting up.

       There's an interesting proposition on the ballot in California. Next month Californians will vote on Proposition 19, which would change state law to allow adults to possess and grow small amounts of marijuana. The state would then be able to tax the selling of distribution, hopefully helping to relieve the existing budget deficeit. Though this issue seems like a state issue, if the proposition passes, it will most likely turn into an issue for the national government.
         The real question is, when power is shared between the national government and the state, what happens when states pass laws violating national law? Supporters of the national government cite the supremacy clause, while state's rights activitists claim they're protected under the tenth ammendment. The department of justice says it will enforce marijuana laws in California, whether the proposition passes or not and many other law enforcing bodies in California say they will do the same. Many of the supporters of the proposition say, bring it on. They are apparently unafraid of the consequences. No matter what this issue threatens to plunge California into a murky fight with the federal government.

Another group of canidates trying to "clean up government"

         I'm very hestitant about people running for office that say they are going to go in and "clean up Washington." They make it seem like they have the power to just walk in, say "hey, let's completely change how things are done" and really get anything done this way. Fiorina brags in her add how she will bring new blood to Washington, and that her lack of political expierence is a good thing. If elected, in my opinion, she'll end up learning her lesson just like Obama did. The lesson is this: you cannot just march into a political arena forcing your own agenda on seasoned members of the system and be successful. It is necessary to play the game of politics, in order to efficiently get anything done. As the phrase goes, you catch more bees with honey than vinegar. If you play by the rules of Congress, your much more likely to get legislation passed (example: Woodrow Wilson's failed Treaty of Versailles).
      Unfortunately, canidates think this forceful, no-nonsense attitude is something that will attract voters. Meg Whitman proclaims she will go in and run California like she ran private business (though in goverment, she cannot just throw fits and fire a bunch of people like she did at ebay). She talks about how she's not a politician, but neither was Arnold, and no one likes him much anymore. It seems like this approach is not working very well in New York's race for governor. Carl Paladino who claims he will "take a bat to Albany" is quickly falling behind in the polls. According to one recently published in the New York times, a majority of the people polled do not think Paladino has the right tempermant or attitude to be governor. In fact, one republican they interviewed said she though Mr. Paladino was angry in a scary way. It's good to see some people realize that this forceful, stubborn approach to politics is not always what is best for our country.

Things don't look good for the Democrats, it seems. . .

    Tea party candidates posing very real threats to moderate Democrats. Alienation of Liberals as the result of Obama's first two years in office, especially his actions in the war. A new poll released stating that only 51 perecent of registered Latino's are planning on voting in the upcoming election. The fact that the democratic party often has a lower voter turn out than Republicans. All these things do not bode well for the Deomcratic party which stands to lose its majority in Congress in the upcoming elections.
     In response to this threat, Obama is trying to rally troops, focusing on encouraging college kids and minorities to make themselves heard. He chastises people who only vote for what the consider the most important election of all, the presidential one. This effort that the president has to make to improve democrats chances demonstrates the country's disillusionment with the continuing recession and Obama's governing thus far. There seems to be quite an enthusiasm gap between Democrats and Republicans, especially as the ultra conservatives organize into their Tea Party faction. What some of these disillusioned Democrats that are not planning on voting do not seem to understand is that losing a majority in Congress would make it even harder to make liberal gains. Think getting any sort of democratic legislation through both houses is hard now? Just wait until it has to fight through a Rebulican majority. On the bright side, if Democrats do lose the majority, they can at least start playing the filibuster card.