The Release Valve of Politics

Given the ongoing hysteria by the Left over the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, they are out for vengeance in the upcoming midterm elections.

Democracies work when there is an outlet for the frustrations of the electorate. Politicians get voted out and new one voted in. That’s the will of the people expressed through the ballot box. The best politicians know how to read those political winds and adjust their actions accordingly.

When Bill Clinton won the Presidency in 1992, his policies were rebuked two year later and so his Party lost a ton of seats in the 1994 midterm election. Realizing that he had to change, Clinton began working with the new Congress and thus he was able to win over the American people. The “new” Clinton changed his policies and governed from a more centrist position which led to his re-election in 1996. Its an example of testing and responding to the winds of political change.

Contrast that with how our leaders have governed over the last few years. Its cause for concern. They have been less concerned with listening to the will of the people and more concerned with pushing through their own agendas.

In 2008 , Barack Obama was elected to the Presidency even though, by any measure, he was the long shot candidate. Obama was effectively an unknown running against the well-established Hillary Clinton and the “Clinton machine.” But given the economic upheaval during the financial crisis, the American people were much more open to a new type of leader. Its what got Obama elected.

Then, like as with Bill Clinton, Obama’s party lost the midterm elections in 2010. In fact, the 2010 election resulted in the highest loss of a party since 1948 and the largest for any midterm election since the 1938 midterm elections.

However, unlike Bill Clinton, Obama never pivoted back to the center. Actually, he continued with the same Leftist policies and won re-election in 2012!

It begs the question, “What happened?” How did Barack Obama win reelection?

The answer is that Obama was able to silence his opponents. In 2008, after all of the bank bailouts, the people were furious. Those banks were bailed out despite their grievous mistakes and negligent acts while many ordinary (and not so ordinary) people went bankrupt and lost their homes.

In addition , a tremendous amount of money (billions!) was set aside as stimulus money. This was money that was injected directly into the U.S. economy by the government. Yet, average Americans remained deeply concerned about the money still being spent and so, the Tea Party was formed as a voice to put a halt to the madness and financial irresponsibility.

Their was no head to the Tea Party. It was instead a collection of political action groups called 501c’s that were created as a voice to stop all of the reckless spending. Prior administrations had left these types of groups free to pursue their agendas as the Constitution provides protections for such action.

As the Tea Party grew in power, Barack Obama and his minions began to target, harass and shut down these 501c’s. Kim Strassel in her book “The Intimidation Game” recounts how the IRS got involved and specifically started to target these groups and stop them. The IRS was effectively weaponized to do the bidding of the Administration and its Leftist organizers.

501c’s that were related to the movement were revoked and denied. Other groups were shut down. Even more were audited to the point that a massive, national movement was effectively shut down by 2012. The voice of opposition that tried to limit Barack Obama and his policies was silenced. People watching the political winds learned quickly it was better to keep quiet about Obama lest the weaponized IRS find them.

Donald Trump’s 2016 election was a shock for many. In fact, if you followed polling data you would have surely thought Hillary Clinton a shoe in; but, that was not the case. Donald Trump won and he won big.

The establishment was shocked. I wasn’t.

The Democrat party in the past had long been able to count on its core constituency of the middle class, workers and unions, as their base to come out to vote. But in 2016 that changed. Because in recent years the party had focused much more on satisfying the fringe part of the base, highlighting issues such as gay rights, women’s’ rights and global warming, they alienated their blue collar workers. Add to that trend the rise of powerful voices from Silicon Valley (which tended to lean heavily to the Left) the party went along with the tech giants’ demands for cheap labor and more immigration. The traditional base, to put it mildly, was not happy.

Donald Trump is not a Republican. He merely ran as one. Having worked around union workers his whole life, Trump knew what their concerns were and he spoke to them directly. While both Left and Right had all but abandoned manufacturing, Trump promised to bring that sector back. With both parties pushing for more open borders, Trump knew these new, cheap workers would hurt the middle class the most and so he pushed back… promising to limit immigration.

These policies that Trump put forth, and the way he has governed, have won him a ton of followers, even advocates. Just look at his rallies and his poll numbers. His base continues to support him. Donald Trump won because people came out to vote for him. People who felt they had lost their voice in government found it again through him.

Since election, the manner in which Trump has governed infuriates the Left. The Kavanugh hearings exposed how deeply that fury runs for Trump and his administration. In less challenging times and under more normal conditions, most people would scoff at someone alleging a crime was committed thirty-six years ago where there were no witnesses. But not with Kavanugh. There, Dr. Ford’s claim that she was sexually assaulted was a legitimate, if unverifiable, cause for the Left.

After Kavanugh’s swearing in , the Supreme Court was literally besieged by rioters clawing and banging on doors. That same week Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R) and his wife were chased from a Washington, D.C. restaurant and Antifa members took control of traffic in downtown Portland. The Left has become unhinged, even though by any economic measures, people are doing much better than they have done in a very long time, with almost full employment and the lowest unemployment ever recorded for African Americans.

The Left is focusing now on the rapidly approaching midterm elections in November. They want their vengeance . It worries me. Historically, presidents in power tend to lose seats in the midterm election of their first term. Combine that with a deep seated hatred of President Trump and its reasonable to conclude that Democrats should do well. In one sense, the political pressure valve would be opened as the Left would feel that, now, they have been heard.

But I don’t think this will be the case. As President Calvin Coolidge once said, “The business of America is business.” With business booming and people seeing real gains in their pocketbooks and unprecedented job creation, I find it hard to believe voters will turn over the House of Representatives when things are going well.

As a Conservative, my first concern is “What if the Left wins back the House?” My second and far deeper concern is, “What if the Left loses?”

Without having released that valve, what will their fury look like then?

Steve

sleeclark@gmail.com

Originally published at abovethefraypodcast.com on October 18, 2018.