Here's to the winners from this week's elections: both the individuals on the ballot and the individuals who manned the ballot.
Although some of my candidates went down in flames (voting democrat is iffy in eastern Kentucky), I am optimistic about the overall trends moving forward.
We'll start with a race I missed. The home town has the first hometown state representative in memory. That could be a win for Elkhorn.
I hope Dr. Justice has a couple extra sets of tires because representing South Williamson to Cumberland is going to take some driving. This might be a good time to look into improving the old road between Elkhorn and Jenkins.
Here's some free advice with my best wishes. Kentucky's most spectacular natural attractions lie in the 94th district. There's hiking, camping, hunting, kayaking, rock climbing, fishing, and off-road adventures that already attract people with money from all over the world.
Package it. Push it. It's low hanging fruit.
A winner on the ballot I did support is Kentucky women and women across the country. Option Two to deny the right to an abortion constitutionally went down easily in a state that is voting Republican for everything else. Across the country, most attempts to further restrict abortions on the ballot went down.
What the far right might be learning is that Americans don't want the government making decisions for them.
Surprise!
Just like Americans don't want the government telling them what music they have to listen to or what shot they have to take, they surely don't want the government telling them what they have to do with their bodies.
They don't want the government telling them they have to die in pregnancy. They don't want the government telling rape victims they have to bear the rapists offspring.
It's why forced labor of prisoners (aka slavery) was defeated in 3 of 4 states (what's up Louisiana). It's why marijunana is legal in over half the states. The growing wave isn't red or blue, it's autonomy. Body autonomy is the most fundamental of rights.
Finally, thanks to thousand of fine Americans, the real winner in this year's midterms is democracy. While everyone from a former president to the world's richest man to Russian oligarchs were telling you our voting and election systems are broken and not trustworthy, Americans from sea to shining sea showed up and voted.
We did it without riots, with a minimum of intimidation, and relatively untouched by glitches. There were no attacks on poll workers or election officials.
The precinct I voted in was running like a well oiled machine. The lines were long and the ballots longer with city, county and statewide elections, not to mention the two ballot initiatives clearly written by chimpanzees. But the crew kept it light and moving.
We voted like we've done it before and plan on doing it again.
I want to thank everyone who worked hard on election day to ensure that voices are heard. Election workers are some of the unsung heroes of our society. These are the people who make America great and always have.