DFK! wrote:
Diamondeye wrote:
With Biden looking to win with 270 or just barely over, the Republicans holding the Senate and picking up House seats, I'm surprisingly okay with this. If it finalizes that way, we can look forward to 2 years of divided government and likely midterm pickups.
Mostly, yes. Gridlock prevents too much SJW/woke garbage. Prevents a broad ranging gun grab. Prevents major healthcare, tax, free college, Green New Deal, or other "resets" that have been talked about in last few months. If the centrist Dems can get the **** stones to dethrone Pelosi, I'd actually say I'm 100% fine with this outcome, frankly.
The only real worry of a Biden presidency met with gridlock is whackadoo executive orders. And in a normal year that's not much to worry about. With COVID, I get very worried about shutdowns or the economy with that type of whackadoodery on the table. But given that the rest of it is probably stalled, it could have been a lot worse. And sliding into the realm of conspiracy theories - I wouldn't be surprised at all if a Biden victory means CA, MI, NY, and some other places start reducing their lockdown severity.
I'm not especially worry about the executive orders considering the *ahem* fortunate situation in the courts at the moment. My biggest worry is that Biden will resume permitting critical race theory in government HR. There are alarming signs that it's creeping into the military, and that makes me very glad I'm down to just a few years to retirement.
I doubt this will happen, but the Democrats/Left need to really look askance at what just happened:
They (likely)
barely won the Presidency against someone they have, with the support of the press, spent the last 4 years alleging is the "worst criminal in human history" (Noam Chomsky made exactly that assertion; I believe last week) far past the point of absurdity (and in fact, damaging the credibility of entirely legitimate criticisms of Trump, which are many, even if far more pedestrian. "Boorish" isn't nearly as bad as "Nazi" but it sticks a lot more easily).
This is the second time in a row that has happened.Moreover, they failed to capture the Senate (and came within a hairsbreadth of not even picking up net seats; the Michigan race was exceedingly close) and lost seats in the house; several ostensibly "safe". They lost despite spending truly massive amounts of money; a quarter billion dollars was spent on Texas, Kentucky, and South Carolina and all three were not close. Even more important, Maine was not close. Iowa was not close. Yet, like in the Presidential race, they were portrayed as if the Republican was deep in trouble, both in the media and in the polling.
The polling industry has clear problems. Texas was not in play. Ohio was not actually in play; it has gone clearly red at this point, and likely Iowa has too. Pennsylvania may be headed that way. For some reason, this solidifying has been visible in Missouri, Colorado, and New Mexico, but has been
badly missed in those states.
But more importantly, this was two waves meeting at the same time. This was a collision of two waves and it resulted in the essentially neutral Senate result, a likely Biden win of the Presidency, and a clear Republican victory in terms of the House (not in capturing a majority, but in greatly weakening the Dem majority, loss of "safe" seats", when the Dems were expecting to gain 6-7 net seats.)
Donald Trump's numerous liabilities were what generated the Blue wave (along with unrelenting bias against him for 4 years; both of those things can be true at the same time), not anything the Democrats have on offer. In reverse, what the Democrats are offering is largely what generated the Red wave. What Republicans have on offer positively is minimal, but they are offering to protect people's basic rights and freedoms against socialism, and against a Democrat establishment that would rather not go socialist, but is endlessly salami-sliced in that direction by it's, and the press's, utter terror at admitting that they have
at least as big an extremism problem as the right.
The shift in Hispanic votes really ought to be something to make the Democrats sit up and take notice - and I live in the heart of that shift. It isn't just Cubans and Venezuelans; I live in south Texas, and Zapata county actually went Red. Starr county almost did to - it want from Clinton +60 to Biden +5. Yet the first thing we see are media figures planning to essentially vote Hispanics off the island of the left.
The Democrats have a serious internal problems, and ones that are unhealthy for the country. When you are relying on making major Constitutional changes in order to get your agenda through, and every loss is an example of Democracy "not working", you are not actually participating in Democracy (or a Republic) at all. When you see major constituency shifts, and when you can barely beat (if they have in fact won, which is still likely but not certain) the Presidency against someone alleged to have done literally zero positive things as President in 4 years, your answer cannot be "well, half the country just sucks."
I'm sure that those on the Left would be only to happy to tell me how this is all totally wrong, but no skin off my nose. I think the Republicans are waking up to smell the coffee that their own voters have been waving under their nose for at least 15 years. They're figuring out they have to actually fend off the crazy, not just talk about it. If the Left wants to hang onto its crazy because the thought that they are good, righteous and smart and the other side is deplorable... ok. Fine. When you're not running against Trump any more we'll see how that works out.