Rural Routes/Margot Ford McMillen

Winning on Issues is the Consolation Prize

One’s outlook on the mid-term elections has something to do with whether one’s candidates and issues won. If your folks lost, it hardly matters if the national analysts proclaim a big victory. In this case, the victory was for the Ds, who took back the House.

In fact, all the D candidates in my county lost by 2:1 margins. Part of it was due to favors that the incumbents, all Rs, had done for constituents but here is the main lesson learned: When POTUS makes three trips in a month to your state, the attention is energizing. And, for decades, Missouri has been ignored by both parties. Missouri should be the poster child for flyover politics.

Along with visits from POTUS, rumors flew through my county on how much money the Rs were going to dump into the races here. And, for the first time in memory, Ds had money. But, bottom line, if POTUS had endorsed a beagle dog for office in my county, the beagle would have won.

But here’s why I haven’t thrown myself off a bridge: My issues won. And I’ve always thought that makes the more important progress.

And if it seems impossible that voters can go to the polls and vote 100% incorrectly on candidates and 100% correctly on issues, well, yeah, impossible but it happened.

Missouri Ds had a pretty good roster going into the campaign, with lots of diversity and lots of women. The candidates came to local events, and they were impressive. Better-trained, more energetic, smarter and more interesting than in years past when, sorry to mention it, the party seemed entrenched and boring.

And the issues … yee haw! The ballot initiatives rocked! Amendment One, the CLEAN amendment, was complicated and included legislator reform that not only restricts lobby gifts to $5 per gift, and limits lawmakers from immediately becoming lobbyists but also re-defines the way re-districting will go after the next census, hopefully preventing gerrymandering and the odd-shaped snakey districts. So the message got out on A-1.

It was easier to understand Proposition One, the issue to raise the minimum wage law from its paltry $7.85 base today to $12 per hour in three years. And it passed! The raises will come incrementally so that bosses will adjust every year, but the impact even after a year come to raises of more than 20%. Good news for our low-wage workers! This issue will impact folks on every level and was endorsed by Chambers of Commerce. Again, the message got out: If more people have more money to spend, businesses will prosper.

But the vote that should spawn Ph.D. dissertations is the Missouri vote on medical marijuana.

There were three medical marijuana issues on the ballot. Two of them — Prop 2 and 3 — would put an amendment on the state constitution. Prop 2 had been endorsed by NORML (National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Law) and it passed. It will allow doctors to prescribe medical marijuana for 10 specified medical conditions, including cancer, glaucoma, epilepsy, chronic pain, PTSD and Parkinson’s. There will be a 4% sales tax, with some going to veterans’ programs. Folks can grow their own weed, after jumping through certain hoops.

Prop. 3 was on the ballot through the work of a millionaire doctor/lawyer, Brad Bradshaw, and would have made him the marijuana czar for Missouri. It would have created a state research institute headed by Bradshaw, to find new uses for weed. Its extremely high tax of 15% would have put an estimated $66 million in the state coffers, so Bradshaw’s P.R. promised, “A tax rebate for you.” But voters saw through it and the so-called Bradshaw amendment massively failed!

The third initiative sought to put a law on the books rather than a constitutional amendment, meaning that lawmakers could change it in the future. Promoters said it would move the issue forward more quickly than an amendment, but didn’t comment on the changes that could come from the General Assembly.

Prop 2 — the sensible one — passed by a healthy 66% to 34% statewide. It received more yes votes than any other issues or candidates. NORML had tried to get the medical marijuana initiative on the ballot for two years, and one of the main opponents was one county prosecuting attorney. Just weeks after the passage of the new initiative, Jean Peters Baker, the prosecutor, announced that her office will stop prosecuting most marijuana possession cases. Before the passage, St. Louis City Prosecuting Attorney Kim Gardner, took similar action on possession cases of up to 100 grams.

So, okay, it’s time to pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off and start all over again. Work the issues that impact your community, and educate others on the best solutions. Money is important, yes, but if you have the right issues, and the right education, the votes will come!

Margot Ford McMillen farms near Fulton, Mo., and co-hosts “Farm and Fiddle” on sustainable ag issues on KOPN 89.5 FM in Columbia, Mo. Her latest book is The Golden Lane: How Missouri Women Gained the Vote and Changed History. Email: margotmcmillen@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, December 15, 2018

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