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Kudos to Nebraska!

I was born in Nebraska and lived there for 26 of my first 27 years. Throughout my time there, I saw that my political views were at odds with a large majority of the state. Even though I voted there every opportunity I had, there were some years where I thought to myself, "Is there even a point? I know there's probably a better chance of me winning the lottery than of the candidates and proposals I vote for of getting passed," but out of principle, did so anyway. So from an election perspective, I gladly left the state in 2008 in favor of the battleground state Ohio. No matter how contrasting Nebraska's politics have been to mine through the years, though, I have been rather impressed with some of their legislative moves over this past year.

In 2014, then Governor Dave Heineman decided to not join the Republican governor voter suppression parade and signed a bill to make voting easier for the state's residents.

Following the tragic death of Omaha police officer Kerrie Orozco, Omaha volunteers blocked off the protests of Westboro Baptist Church members at Orozco's funeral, so her friends and family could mourn in peace this past Tuesday.

Later in the week, the conservative Nebraska legislature overrode two of Governor Pete Ricketts' vetoes, one which banned the death penalty and another which allowed DREAMers to obtain driver's licenses. With these two moves, Nebraska became the first conservative state (states which voted Republican in each of the past two presidential elections) to ban the death penalty since North Dakota did it in 1973, a full 42 years ago, and became the 50th and final state to allow DREAMers to obtain driver's licenses.

Many of my conservative Nebraska friends may disagree with the state legislature's moves this past week, but I personally think it's nice to see both sides of the aisle coming together to pass such bills, think that's an encouraging sign, and like to see my former state, as conservative as it is, be able to pass progressive bills when the time calls for it.

Self-described liberals have long been opponents of the death penalty, largely due to claims that the practice can be categorized as cruel and unusual punishment and that the justice system, being as imperfect as it is, has led to innocents being killed by the state. Also, while a majority of Democrats believe that the death penalty isn't a deterrent to crime, more Republicans appear to be going down that road as well, not to mention more self-described conservatives are starting to see that maintaining the death penalty is a lot more costly than people realize and it'd save the state money to abolish the practice and replace it with life imprisonment without parole. It'll be interesting to see if other conservative-leaning states follow Nebraska's lead on this issue and if, before too terribly long, the death penalty becomes a thing of the past in the United States, like it's been with most other developed countries.

As far as the DREAMers bill is concerned, as the saying goes, I guess it was better late than never. While stubbornness is at times applauded, when Nebraska is the lone remaining state to not allow DREAMers to obtain driver's licenses, in conjunction with our country becoming more diverse by the day, that very stubbornness goes from being admired to disparaged. It was high time for the state to pass the bill.

For most of my 34 years, I've shook my head and rolled my eyes at legislative moves in my original home state of Nebraska, but over this past year, especially over the past week, the Cornhusker state has made me proud! Kudos to Nebraska!

http://www.omaha.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140331/NEWS/140339749/1707

http://www.inquisitr.com/2122866/westboro-baptist-church-protest-at-omaha-officer-kerrie-orozcos-funeral-doesnt-go-as-planned/

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/05/how-nebraska-banned-the-death-penalty/394271/

http://www.ketv.com/politics/dreamers-to-get-driver-licenses-as-lawmakers-override-governors-veto/33264600N

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