SYDNEY WILLIAMS: IS PAST PROLOGUE?
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Yogi Berra is alleged to have said: “Forecasting is very difficult, especially when it involves the future.” Republicans were quick to conclude that Glenn Youngkin’s victory in Virginia last week promises wins for Republicans in next year’s midterms. I hope they are right, but there is a lot of time between now and then. Such predictions can lull candidates into complacency.
However, the election may have put a stop – perhaps temporarily – to the leftward shift of the Democratic Party. Sanity was the winner in Virginia and a handful of other states, with derangement the loser. Even deep-blue New Jersey appeared to have second thoughts about their fall into leftist lunacy, though the heavily taxed state chose to stay with its spendthrift governor. In its aftermath, Congress passed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, with the help of thirteen Republicans (from swing districts) and with six Congressional Democrats (including all four members of “The Squad”) voting no. Nevertheless, following Virginia’s election, progressives showed their colors: Michael Eric Dyson, a guest on MSNBC’s “Reidout,” called Virginia’s newly elected Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears, a “black voice for white supremacy.” Jemele Hill, a former host on ESPN, tweeted that Ms. Sears is a white supremacist. New York’s Chuck Schumer and California’s Nancy Pelosi, ignoring Tuesday’s elections, assured Progressives they will pass the far-more-expensive “human infrastructure” legislation (Build Back Better) by Thanksgiving – a single bill whose all-in costs equals what total annual federal spending had been in 2014.
One lesson for Republicans is that the personal presence of Donald Trump may prove a hindrance, at least in blue and purple states. Mr. Trump alleged that without his endorsement Mr. Youngkin would have lost by fifteen points. My guess is that the reverse is true – if he had personally campaigned for him, Mr. Youngkin, would have lost by ten points. As President, Mr. Trump was victim of what probably was the largest political scandal in our nation’s history – the Clinton campaign-inspired Russian collusion story. As well, he was confronted with one of the worst pandemics to hit this nation. Yet he reduced regulatory red tape, increased economic activity at home, raised wages for black and minority workers, brought energy independence to the country, slowed illegal immigration, and, with the Abraham Accords, brought glimmers of peace to Israel and her Arab neighbors. But his narcissistic personality and polarizing ways accentuated the divide of an already ruptured nation. His policies were correct, His character was not.
Voters understand the challenges we face. In their pocketbooks, they see the cost of rising fuel prices caused by shutting down the Keystone XL Pipeline and limits placed on drilling. They experience higher prices at the supermarket. Wage growth is no longer keeping up with inflation. They live with supply-chain shortages, as we head into the holidays. They know their children are being indoctrinated with Critical Race Theory, while they underperform in global tests, in math, English and science. They recognize the social and economic costs associated with letting into the country two million unvaccinated illegal immigrants in less than a year. They watch as science becomes politicized. They recognize the damage to America of a deadly, chaotic exit from Afghanistan, which emboldened enemies like China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. They see an aging population, creating greater strains on already underfunded Social Security and Medicare systems. [In 1960, life expectancy was 69.8 years, the average age was 29.5 and there were 5.1 workers for every retiree. Today, life expectancy is 77.3, the average age is 38 and there are 2.9 workers for every retiree.] Voters understand the consequences of politicians ignoring these challenges.
Most Americans are political middle-of-the-roaders. They yearn for reason, respect and decency. They do not want supercilious, woke, far-left Democrats dividing the nation by race and gender, telling us how to live our lives. And they do not want the angry voices of Republican extremists. They want logic, common sense, civility and tolerance. They would like a media that reports the news, not one that only prints the news it sees fit to print.
Joe Biden was elected, in part, because voters believed him when he promised to bring a sense of normalcy to the political scene. They did not anticipate he would become a puppet manipulated by unknowns with far-left leanings, wreaking havoc on citizens exhausted from political extremism.
Does Virginia’s election foretell a more amenable, political climate? I don’t know. As John Kenneth Galbraith and Yogi Berra reminded us, forecasting can be a fool’s game. Nevertheless, I and millions of others hope that Wokeism and its reign of terror is dying, and that we are headed toward a more civil and commonsensical time. However, with the insanity and fright that come from a culture of intimidation, with the “Elect” controlling our schools, universities, media companies, Hollywood, big businesses and government bureaucracies, we worry – there may be no halting this tyranny of the left. But America has been in tough places before, and it has never been wise to bet against her over the long term.
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