elections

I was not particularly distraught when I learned that US Senator Evan Bayh, a Democrat from Indiana, will not be seeking a third term in the upcoming elections. What most pundits call his "bipartisanship" is largely a product of the cynical view of government spending that he shares with most Republicans, whereby the investment of public funds in helpful social programs like Medicare and welfare is frowned upon, but wasteful military spending and large subsidies to private corporations is applauded. During his tenure in the Senate, Bayh has backed some of the Republicans' worst initiatives and has repeatedly blocked or undermined efforts to implement genuinely beneficial initiatives that the public supports, such as a single-payer health plan and many of the useful features of Obama's economic stimulus plan. That said, the exception that Bayh has taken with the Supreme Court's idiotic ruling on 21 January 2010 is, however, a sentiment I share with the Senator, and his recent initiative to introduce some minor reforms to the nightmare that political campaigns have become is a step in the right direction.