Post-Election Thoughts

Elections are finally over and political ads on TV are finished for a while.

In general there wasn't anything too shocking about the way the elections turned out. On a national level, the Republicans took over the House, while the Democrats kept control of the Senate. This was something expected for a while now, and I really don't think it will make a huge difference going forward. Sure, I've heard Republicans talking about how things will be done differently, and how this is America speaking up. But let's be honest, this is the same talk we hear every time a party takes over a portion Congress. Whether Democrat or Republican, politicians say the right things at the right time, but when it comes to walking the walk - they stumble. There are so many different views on major, nation-wide topics that rather the going forward on them, our government goes side-to-side. At what point will our government come together on these major topics, compromise and do better for this country.

The local ballot questions in Massachusetts were another topic of interest. I have added the 3 questions below for those of you that are unaware:

1. Get rid of the sales tax on alcohol.
2. Something about building affordable housing (I will admit I was/am not as knowledgeable on this topic)
3. Reduce the state sales tax from 6.25% to 3%.

The first and third questions were the ones of most debate. Getting rid of the sales tax, which would slightly decrease our states budget, was hardly the issue at hand. Many argue that we should not be taxed twice on an item being purchased - something that is happening when buying alcohol. Just this alone is wrong, and should not be allowed. What many store owners, especially in northern Massachusetts, have an issue with is the decrease in alcohol sales. Many people have been traveling to New Hampshire to avoid the extra tax. New Hampshire has had their highest alcohol sales, and are hurting local businesses in Massachusetts that rely on the sale of alcohol for their revenue.

The third question about reducing the sales tax is absurd. The sales tax was recently increased from 5% to 6.25% as a way to help increase the state's budget. Some claimed that by reducing this, and therefore the budget, would decrease wasteful government spending. Although this may be true in actual numbers, there would still be too much government spending and reducing the budget wouldn't stop politicians from wasting what should be used for good causes. To reduce the sales tax to 3% would be too extreme, and cutting down the on a budget that is already too thinly spread across the board would be horrible. People that supported this reduction seemed more focus on the idea of paying 3 less cents on each dollar they spent. This is a perfect example of how people make their decisions based on what they see on TV, and what benefits them as an individual. What we need is more people to be focused on what benefits society as a whole, and hopefully one person at a time we can make a difference.