The media on election night will insist that any Republican gains are the product of a spontaneous electoral conflagration -- one that ignited in the two years of Obama. But nothing could be further from the truth.

Ballot measures get ignored because they don't involve personality, but that's exactly why they're so good at telling us what an election is about. When you look at the measures, you see an overwhelming rejection of conservative doctrine.

Like many of you reading these pixels, I've found myself in the last year burnt out on American politics, mostly because it has become a glorified red-versus-blue summer camp color war devoid of most substance and logic.

It's a true rarity to see the politicians and lobbyists who write trade policy officially admit that they believe trade policymaking isn't even a matter the public should be allowed to see, much less challenge.