Over the endless election run-up I saw congeries of campaign signs in yards around town that I couldn't understand, collections that often brought together the likes of Inslee, Larsen, No Coal and Ron Paul. How could voters pass all four major ballot initiatives - gay marriage, dope, charter schools, 2/3s majority? Well, yesterday the light came on.

Washington, not Texas, is the true Libertarian state. The right that fools with peoples' personal lives can't see it; the left that throws peoples' money at social problems can't see it; and the center only sees Peace, ecotopia, and the Tea Party as extreme and incompatible positions. But Denis Kucinich didn't run here after all. DelBene, a Microsoft millionaire from a working class background, trounced Koster in a CD designed to his specifications. And the 42nd district handily returned to office two candidates whose only promise to voters was that they would keep doing nothing whatsoever.

I believe the key to Washington's variety of Libertarianism is that it can appeal to women and people with a college education. All it lacks are candidates. So here we are, the state with the most regressive tax system in the country; a state which will never have an income tax, maybe no new taxes ever; and where Democrats continue to dominate state politics utterly. Don't Bogart that joint, my friend, pass it over to me.

Robert Marshall

Bellingham