Midterm Elections 2022
41) America sure does have a lot of elections, all of which seem to have super high-stakes
My go-to source for political news is https://politicalwire.com/
I think they are the best news aggregator site out there, fulfilling a lot of my news wants and desires. I pay $50 bucks a year to get their info ad free with exclusive insider info, and I probably spend 10-15 minutes per day on that site, which rounds out to about 90 minutes to 120 minutes per week.
To me it’s money well spent, even though some of the news articles on there do seem repetitive at times. Democracy is on the line. Or Don’t trust the polls. All sorts of variations of the same theme.
It’s not my goal to convince you who to vote for or who not to vote for. I honestly thought for a while that my home state of New York was such a safe democratic party state that I didn’t need to vote in this election. But, then Governor Kathy Hochul seemed to continuously slip in the polls. Now, I’m making it a point to vote. Some people I know are disappointed in that choice as they blame her for bail reform and from that, the rise in crime. Another friend tells me he’s upset that it is illegal to enter a house of worship with a fire-arm. He likes to call it outlawing prayer.
I hear all the arguments. I have friends on the right that take this opportunity to instill fear about this election, just as effectively as people on the left do. It’s not that I don’t care to hear this whole spiel, but I honestly don’t care. I’m still voting and I’m proudly voting for Democratic party candidates. I don’t need to convince you why, because even if I tried to, you either -
Already agree with me
Don’t care to hear it from me, either
If you are fatigued from all this politics stuff like me, then you get why the fear-mongering on the left and right is just plain old.
https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-bombhole-era-0cb
Even though I am voting for democrats, the argument that democracy is on the line, and that’s why I have to vote Democrat, is actually silly. The whole point of democracy is choice. So, maybe we just need more viable political parties. As America continues to seesaw between two corporate parties, neither of whom exactly serve everyone’s interest all that well. But, they are the only two parties in town. Sometimes it's best to pick a side or be squashed.
How this Midterm election plays out is anybody’s guess. Public trust in polls is at an all-time low. And people actually taking the time to answer polls is even lower than that. I’m not so naïve to assume big democratic gains tomorrow. But, I also don’t anticipate a “HUGE Red Wave” like people claim. If anything, we the American people get to choose between two political parties whose brands are obviously quite large and just by sheer size innately strong.
Yet, clearly both parties are cheapened by how propagandized the media industry and whole political ecosystem is. I say this not to say both sides share equal blame. They don’t.
But as a Democrat, it’s painfully obvious to me that the party’s messaging is far too limited in scope. Even though Uncle Joe’s ratings are upside down, and inflation is too high up. This is why I can see a red ripple forming. But, if you pay attention to how spooked Republicans are by Trump declaring a run for President now or anytime before Christmas…it kind of makes you wonder how confident the GOP really does feel about their long-term prospects, even if they might control congress again in the coming 100 or so days.
It sure as heck makes me wonder! Happy voting everyone.
-JPJ
I agree with you that we need more than 2 parties but in the past that only siphoned off votes rather than adding real choice.
I'm hoping (& praying) that this election keeps the status quo. Some musical chairs that leaves neither party the victor.
It's the local state elections that worry me the most. If enough go conservative our electoral system could be corrupted and would affect our national elections in a frightening way.
Thanks for the thought provoking article.