In the 19th-century election ballots were counted by hand. Usually, when the count was first announced, the customary crowd of people that gathered to await the results cheered loudly. Oftentimes, this was a preliminary indication of who would win the election, hence the expression, all over but the shouting.

In California last evening it was over without any shouting.  And, in fact, the recall Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom election ballot was over before it started. BBR’s best guess is that the final tally will be at least 60% against combing back Gavin like his hair to under 40% in favor of a new dude with a new do.  That’s not close, and it never was.

Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly a 2-1 margin these days in the Golden State.  With nearly 40 million residents it’s not too hard to get 1.5 million to sign a recall petition, but it’s really hard to get 51% of a vote when the sitting governor “identifies” the same as 67% of the state’s citizens.

“We said yes to science. We said yes to vaccines. We said yes to ending this pandemic,” said Newsom.  He controls none of that, but never mind.  “Economic justice, social justice, racial justice, environmental justice are values where California has made so much progress.   All of those things were on the ballot this evening,” he added.  That’s a lot of justice.  It makes you wonder why Cali is losing a congressional seat due to an accelerating population reduction even with immigration flowing in.

This brings us to a bevy of questions.  One, did Cali vote against Larry Elders (or anyone not deemed Progressive) or for Gavin Newsom?  Two, did America vote more against Donald Trump or for Joe Biden? If you say you voted for Biden and not against Trump, get some truth serum in your next booster vaccine, please. Three, did America vote against Hillary Clinton more than for Donald Trump?  Likely.  We could continue.

This brings us very prematurely to 2024.   Can America find a candidate that the very polarized public can get behind from both sides?  We HIGHLY doubt it.  The entirety of the process, more than ever before, sets up against it.  Lobbyists, big donor money, PACs, two-party dominance, fractured feelings, and several other major factors all set up against it.

America sees things more black and white than ever before and we aren’t talking about race.  Though, playing the race card is still a, ahem, trump card.  Either you’re with us or you’re against us.  Hatfields and McCoys.  Cowboys and Indians, though you can’t say Indians any longer.  Good cop, no cop.

Hey, how about Rand Paul?

Have you ever listened in detail to his orations?  He identifies as a Republican, but he’s plenty Libertarian.

Yesterday, without malice he took Secretary of State Antony Blinken apart limb by limb over what we did and didn’t do in Afghanistan, knew and didn’t, and what we are going to do, or not about it now.  Like Paul himself, it was a poised, unemotional, educated, evenhanded, intelligent drive down the middle lane.

Unelectable you say?  We agree.  Paul favors a balanced budget, not a ballooning deficit.  Strike one.  He favors independence over dependence on government.  Strike two.   And, three, his hair game ends where Gavin’s begins.  Strike three, you’re out!

Logic is as out of style as a perm on the national scene.  Emotion is all the craze.

Meanwhile back in Cali, Newsom can again dare to depart for the maskless, crazy expensive dinners that he doesn’t dare part his hair for.

After all, a part divides.

Slick.