Commentary
“All politics is local” is a memorable quote frequently true and generally attributed to 47th speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill, Jr. (D-Mass.).
Sorry, Tip; not this time! The 2022 midterm elections have been nationalized by both parties.
Let’s examine that theory. The differences between the two parties have never been clearer.
The Republican Message
Here are the key parts of the Republican message to voters this election cycle. All of these are aligned with the top issues that have been consistently reported by even Democrat pollsters throughout 2022. These are the bread-and-butter issues that directly impact people’s lives.
Economic chaos and inflation. This is the key part of the Republican message: Democrat policies have driven the economy into the ditch and inflation through the roof, and Republicans will fix the problem by controlling excess government spending, restarting domestic oil and gas production, and ending lockdowns.
Immigration and the border crisis. Republicans vow to close the border, stem the flow of unvetted illegal aliens into the United States, and stop the flood of fentanyl and other illegal drugs that is killing over 100,000 Americans per year.
Crime. Democrat policies have directly resulted in an increase in crime rates across the United States, but in particular in large Democrat-run cities. Pick your poison, as Republicans intend to reverse all of these Democrat policies:
- Defund the police
- Cashless bail
- Soros district attorneys
- Jailing political enemies
- Double standards and selective prosecutions
Weaponizing the federal government. Republicans are for strong government accountability. Americans have watched aghast as DoJ, the FBI, and DHS have been turned against Democrat political opponents. The Jan. 6 protestors have been pursued to the ends of the Earth while the thousands of violent Antifa and BLM rioters have received hand-slaps (if that). And peaceful anti-abortion protestors have been raided by the FBI while the violence of pro-abortion protestors is ignored. A new 1,000-page report from GOP members of the House Judiciary Committee details “allegations of misconduct and political bias within the Department of Justice and the FBI.” Republicans have vowed to reimplement strong congressional oversight of federal agencies, especially those involved in law enforcement-related activities.
Parental Control. Long-standing Democrat support for the overall LGBT+ agenda was put on steroids by an executive order signed on Biden’s very first day as president. Since then, revelations of grooming of children in public schools, advocacy of gender reassignment surgery, and drag queen shows have outraged Americans. Republicans emphasize parental control of children and ending any grooming of children via the public education system.
The Democrat Message
The Democrat message sidesteps all of the kitchen table issues that matter most to Americans. Their message completely ignores the elements of the Republican message.
Abortion. Democrat strategists thought they hit the political jackpot when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the Dobbs decision on June 24, which returned the power to the states “to allow, limit, or ban the practice altogether.” They believed that abortion was their ticket to election victory and a major topic shift from the disastrous economy and high inflation that their policies have produced. As a result, they poured $124 million into pounding the abortion topic from June to Labor Day, but that issue is of little important to Americans, according to polling.
Saving democracy. A corollary is “defeating election deniers.” “Democracy is on the ballot” has been repeated endlessly by dozens of leading Democrats and their lickspittle media. Joe Biden has made it a staple in his limited stump speeches over the past two weeks. Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi have also echoed that message relentlessly. But what does that phrase really mean? The Democrats are actually saying that the real threat to democracy is anyone who doesn’t vote Democrat! Elements of this part of the message include the following:
- Attributing the attack on Paul Pelosi to an attacker motivated by right-wing Q theories (while hiding the truth about what actually transpired)
- Demonizing America First supporters
- Continuing efforts to “get Trump” in order to motivate the Democrat base
Americans who vote to toss Democrats out this year just might consider it insulting for Biden and company to claim that “democracy is a risk” when they are exercising their democratic right to vote!
The Bad Republicans. The old saws endlessly repeated by Democrats include that Republicans “will take away your Social Security,” and that “Republicans are inherently racist.” And, the Democrats aren’t above hypocrisy in propagating that Republicans who are “willing to deny the results of a clear election … shouldn’t be running in an election.” So said prominent Jan. 6 committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who contested the results of the 2016 election, as pointed out here. Other prominent Democrat “election deniers” include Hillary Clinton and Stacey Abrams.
That’s it. That’s the Democrat media message this year. They do not talk about their pet issues, e.g., global warming, gun control, Ukraine, COVID jab mandates, and their go-to alphabet soup (CRT, ESG, LGBT+, etc.). But they are happy to sling mud in the hope that voters will ignore the kitchen table issues that are important this election cycle.
For example, Republicans talking about crime is “bullhorn racist,” according to MSNBC’s Tiffany Cross as reported here. Cross was axed by MSNBC on Nov. 4.
Democrat New York Governor Kathy Hochul says it’s a conspiracy theory that crime is rising: “American’s rising fear about crime has been manufactured by “master manipulators” in a national “conspiracy” ahead of Election Day.
CNN has been minimizing the crime issue for a long time in service of the Democrat Party. They were caught running a disgraceful chyron during the unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after the police-involved Jacob Blake shooting that said “FIERY BUT MOSTLY PEACEFUL PROTESTS AFTER POLICE SHOOTING.” That’s reminiscent of the Democrat media complex excusing the Antifa-BLM riots throughout 2020.
But this particular election season ridiculousness in support of Democrats may take the cake. According to MSNBC’s Joy Reid, inflation is a made-up word that average people don’t use that was “taught by Republicans,” as reported here.
In summary, Democrats want voters to focus on abstract concepts and “bad Republicans” as opposed to issues that directly affect their lives.
Concluding Thoughts
The Republican and Democrat messages to voters are crystal clear this election year, with the differences between the parties perhaps greater than in any previous midterm election. The deleterious effects of the Democrat policies passed into law during the Biden administration have nationalized the election in the mind’s eyes of most voters. House Republicans have also nationalized the election with their “commitment to America.”
Republicans directly address the kitchen table issues that matter most to Americans while Democrats bleat about esoteric issues that are peripheral matters in the lives of most voters. Democrats do not—and cannot!—run on the policies they have implemented over the past 20 months because voters have directly and personally experienced the disastrous results every time they buy gasoline and groceries.
Game, set, and match go to the Republicans this year!
Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
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Stu Cvrk retired as a captain after serving 30 years in the U.S. Navy in a variety of active and reserve capacities, with considerable operational experience in the Middle East and the Western Pacific. Through education and experience as an oceanographer and systems analyst, Cvrk is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, where he received a classical liberal education that serves as the key foundation for his political commentary.
