The Multimillion-Dollar Payment to Kill American Democracy
Turn on MSNBC or open The Washington Post these days and you’ll find pundits declaring the pending end of American democracy. Voters voting for Republicans will bring democracy crashing down. We have arrived at peak hysteria for the midterms.
Spending Big Bucks On Election Deniers
Katherine Fung documented in Newsweek in August, “Democrats have spent at least $43,885,000 on advertising campaigns in races across six states.” The final tab ran closer to $46 million. Democrats decided to promote election-denying Republicans the Democrats thought would be easy to beat. Some of those Democrat-funded election deniers will win in just over a week. It is notable that Democrats have also funded their own election deniers, like Stacey Abrams in Georgia, who repeatedly claimed the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial race had been stolen. But Democrats are fine with Democrats who deny the legitimacy of elections.
Politics 101 is pretty straightforward: Talk about the issues voters care about.
Just to be very clear here, Democrats claim election-denying is disqualifying for office. Despite this belief, Democrats spent upwards of $46 million, ensuring such candidates won Republican nominations for office.
Prime-Time Zeal Over January 6
For the past year, Democrats and their allies in the media have zealously consumed themselves with rage over the events of Jan. 6, 2021. Congressional Democrats hired a former president of ABC News to help deliver prime-time televised committee hearings on the events around that day. A week ago, the congressional Democrats subpoenaed former President Donald Trump as their series finale to the hearings. They could have subpoenaed him months ago but waited till now because their hearings have always been about the election and not about defending democracy.
Pro-Abortion Rage
Concurrently, Democrats have embraced abortion as their signature campaign issue. They have raged across America about Republicans controlling women’s bodies. Merrick Garland, the attorney general, began publicly rounding up pro-life activists who had protested outside abortion clinics. At least 15 such activists have been frog-marched from their homes at gunpoint β all designed to energize Democratic voters. There has been no outrage about the attorney general running a base mobilization campaign for a political party. The political press, increasingly an arm of the Democratic Party, has encouraged the Left to make abortion an issue.
Voters Have Different Priorities Than the Dems
Unfortunately for Democrats, voters cannot fill up their cars with gas. One in five Americans cannot afford all their groceries at checkout. Heating oil is already being rationed in New England. Utility costs are increasing. Inflation remains above 8%. The Democrats are crowing about all the cool climate change legislation they passed, but voters really want meaningful help paying their bills, keeping their jobs and keeping their businesses open. President Joe Biden says the economy is doing great. Voters disagree.
Had Democrats tried to address voters’ concerns instead of manufacturing crises through which they could advance their green agenda, perhaps progressive pundits would not now be screaming about the end of democracy. Democrats used to be pretty good at politics. Somehow, they got very bad at meeting voters at the voters’ level and addressing their concerns.
Now, if voters think crime is a problem, they are either racist or watching too much Fox News. If voters think the economy is not doing well, they really are not paying attention to just how good they have it. If voters cannot afford gas for their car, they just need to “drive on sunshine,” as the Secretary of Energy snidely says. If voters care about their daughters not competing for athletic scholarships with biological boys, they are just bigots. Insults, screams and bullying are what the Democrats offer voters who’ve been robbed, ransomed and ruined in Biden’s economy.
Politics 101
If “election deniers” are elected, it will be because Democrats spent $46 million helping them get nominated and two years wrecking the economy while insulting the voters more concerned with making ends meet than handwringing over Jan. 6, 2021, and abortion. Politics 101 is pretty straightforward: Talk about the issues voters care about. Democrats chose to talk about the issues they care about and funded the very election deniers they claim are a threat to democracy. Voters, naturally, decided Democrats are not serious people able to address serious needs in serious times. That is why Republicans will do well on Nov. 8, 2022.
To find out more about Erick Erickson and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.
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