Post-election thoughts

Much will be said and hashed over regarding the federal elections, but there is no doubt that the 2012 elections were a mixed bag at best for New Mexicans of a limited government bent.

The good: All three PRC reform Constitutional Amendments passed;
While more was hoped for, the Legislature did not get markedly worse, despite a tough election nationwide.

The bad: New Mexico voters had a chance to shake up the Legislature and did not do it, thus missing out on a chance to end one of the oldest legislative monopolies in the Western Hemisphere.

Albuquerque voters, throwing basic economics to the wind, adopted an increase in the minimum wage mandated under City law.

In addition to the Legislature, reform-minded judicial candidates were defeated. Apparently, having a terrible judiciary is just fine with a majority of New Mexico voters.

We’ll keep educating New Mexicans on these and other important issues. Because the ideas of limited government are rather counter-intuitive (as John Stossel points out) we are likely to lose more than we win.