The Fun-ny Stuff about US Politics.

One thing I like about American politics that the French don't have is its... diversity and weirdness, and most of it you find at a local level of course.

While European media focus on the Democrats losing the House and keeping the Senate, they hardly ever mention the other local election results - the state legislatures, the governors, or, sometimes even more interesting, the ballot initiatives. (although, French newspaper Le Monde did).

Now, that's a fun (or scary or-both) American concept and both France and Europe have been struggling with the idea.

The reason I like ballot initiatives so much is because they can be very creative. Of course, the best known state for ballot initiatives is California with its Prop 19 that would have legalized marijuana (and surprisingly, it was defeated despite its huge debt, its liberal spirit and the great hypocrisy of medicinal pot).

But there were about at least another 160 ballot initiatives in almost 40 states.

• In Denver for instance there was a local initiative to set up a Commission for Extraterrestrial Affairs to study UFOs.(it was defeated).

• Meanwhile in Oklahoma people overwhelmingly voted to amend the state constitution to ban international law—specifically sharia law—from being used in their state courts. Not that it has ever been... but who knows.... After all, some Muslims even dare to sue the state!

• As for Kansas, one of its western counties has approved the sale of alcohol by the drink... which is a great opportunity to find out that it wasn't before.... or even that to this day, Kansas still has 29 dry counties that prohibit all on-premises liquor sales. (or that 33 states have laws which allow localities to prohibit the sale !).By the way, voters in Kansas also decided to add the right to bear arms to its constitution....
  

Here are some other interesting local results :

Three of Iowa's Supreme Court justices were voted out of office pretty much for legalizing same-sex marriage but on the other hand, voters in Lexington, Kentucky's second-largest city, have elected the city's first openly gay mayor and the fourth openly gay member of Congress was elected by the people of Rhodes Island.
And the first black Republican since the 1800s was elected in the Deep South.

But the most amazing result is the election of a dead woman to the state Senate of California! (here).