On November 6, Americans flocked in huge numbers to the polls to cast their votes for the next president of the United States. Of course, we all know the results: with a total of 332 electoral votes and a popular vote of 51 percent, Barack Obama was re-elected.
This was an extremely close race that could have gone either way, but the results revealed something striking about our country’s ideology: the United States are becoming more ideologically and regionally divided.
Aside from re-electing President Obama, some progressive pieces of legislation were voted into action in states that Obama won. Maine, Maryland and Washington voted to approve initiatives to legalize same-sex marriage. In addition, Minnesota voters rejected an amendment to the state Constitution defining marriage traditionally. Washington and Colorado voted for the legalization of recreational marijuana use; Massachusetts voted for legalization of medicinal marijuana.
Republican states that voted for Romney passed conservative pieces of legislation. Arkansas voters refused to pass a bill for medical marijuana use. Alabama, Montana, Missouri and Wyoming all passed measures blocking the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
States that were supportive of their candidate for the presidential race also tended to be supportive of the candidates for the legislative races.
In Arkansas, both the Senate and House seats went in favor of the Republicans, which, according to MSNBC news, put Republicans in control of both chambers of the state for the first time since Reconstruction. On the other hand, states that supported Obama had a Democratic leaning in the congress race. We saw Democrats taking control of the House in Colorado and New Hampshire, and both chambers in Maine and Minnesota.
Although it is obvious from the ballot races that the country is becoming more and more polarized, the president is looking toward working across the aisle with Republicans in Congress to fix the economy. This leaning toward cooperation could not have come at a better time. With the fiscal cliff looming in the near future, House Speaker John Boehner has expressed his belief that the House GOP and the President Obama will find common ground in overcoming the economic ticking time bomb.
So what is the fiscal cliff? Last year, Obama signed the Budget Control Act, which, after January 1, would put into effect $64 billion in spending cuts that will be enacted if a consensus cannot be reached. In addition, without coming to a conclusion on tax reform, taxes would increase by $400 billion by 2013.
This fiscal cliff would put the country back into an economic recession and cause the unemployment rate to rise up to 9.1 percent by the fourth quarter of 2013, compared to the October unemployment rate of 7.9 percent. The average person would face tax increases of up to $3,500 because some of the current income tax rates and breaks are set to expire or shrink by December 31.
In addition, on January 1 the ACA will impose a $20 billion tax increase on people who make over $200,000 or $250,000 for joint filers. The temporary reduction for the Social Security tax is set to expire at the end of the year.
The president wishes to reduce the deficit while initiating tax increases for Americans who make more than $250,000. Boehner maintains that while he is willing to work with President Obama and congressional Democrats, he is against the raising of any taxes.
Congress will meet with the president next week to begin discussing the provisions to be made about the tax increases and who will pay them – an agreement that must be made before February. The prospect for cooperation is relatively high; both parties are determined to reverse the fiscal cliff and current talk on the matter is relatively positive. Boehner and other Republican House members have also adopted less harsh rhetoric against the Affordable Care Act, referring to it as “the law of the land” and claiming that while there are parts of it that they disagree with, they have no plans as of yet for repealing it.
Sources
Obama sticks to guns on tax increase for wealthiest Americans
Down-ballot races showed deep ideological and regional divides across America
National Election Results
http://elections.msnbc.msn.com/ns/politics/2012/all#.UJ1evXNGQeM