According to many on CommonDreams.org, this US mid-term election just passed was a referendum on Iraq, even if you had no genuine referenda on your ballot specifically asking about Iraq.

According to the AP/Edison exit poll, it would be more accurate to say this election was a referendum on the economy and the Iraq war weighed in at number 4 in the ranking below “Corruption” and “Terrorism”.

Sure, the money spent on the war adversely affects Americans and “Terrorism” could describe what the US is doing in Iraq, but Iraq was specifically mentioned yet didn’t rank at #1.

Also, since the Democrats didn’t offer anything for anti-war voters (who are now a majority in the US), it might be more fair to put the emphasis on the Republicans losing and the Democrats winning anything because America is a two-party country where independents and third parties only began to show up as challengers in some districts (Rich Whitney, Green party candidate for Illinois governor, had low double-digit support in early counts while the Democratic incumbent was hearing his Republican competitor concede the race to him). News reporters on TV last night said Whitney took more votes from the Republican candidate than the incumbent, which they said was odd.

When you’re trapped in a duopoly, the only other competition you’re allowed to hear from doesn’t have to offer you anything. You’ll be told to vote for them because “where else are you going to go?”. In two years it will be even more important to tell both corporate parties that you’ll leave them for independent and third party candidates.