OK, so I'm cynical. Sometimes voting does matter... the sales tax yesterday? It's up by six votes in Iowa City, down by seven votes in Coralville. North Liberty and the unincorporated areas of Johnson County said 'no.' I believe University Heights said yes.
There are still outstanding absentee ballots out there (despite what the article in the Press-Citizen seems to suggest) and there's a petition for a likely recount already gaining steam.
For me, the implications of this result are pretty clear: there is a deep amount of populist anger at government spending out there- when hippy-dippy, uber-liberal Iowa City can't even pass a 1% sales tax it means that people are seriously pissed off. The wider implications should also be obvious: Lefties can no longer afford to make fun of the 'Tea Party' movement, because results like these show that populist anger isn't just for what the media likes to portray as right-wing cranks and nutjobs anymore.
People are pissed off. Democrats (at least the ones in Congress), need to wake up, pull their heads out of their butts and realize this as soon as possible.
If the Republicans were wise (and they won't be) they'd tone down the social conservatism and ratchet up the small government stuff- and they should be downright radical about it if they're going to do it. I'm no expert on the inner workings of the Republican Party, but it seems to me that right now, the split between social conservatism and small government is running about 60-40 in favor of social conservatism-- that ratio should be flipped- and to my mind it should be more like 80-20 in favor of small government. The smaller the government, the less interference you're going to see and you can promote your own values more easily from that point.
But still-- nail biting stuff.
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