And The Winners Are...
Not the Progressive left, thats for sure.
Typically, the election after the Presidential election is hyper-localized and media, be it right or left, try to make some sort of grand declaration about the mood of the country after a hard fought National election cycle. More typically, it’s just talking heads talking and very little can be pulled out of those local races. A republican county will generally elect or reelect a Republican government and vice versa with a Democrat controlled county. This holds true for city and state elections as well. Rarely will voters swing all that much during this followup year.
Until now.
Case in point, Virginia was once a red state but with the influx of Democrats into the state’s Northern counties, the state became purple turning blue. However, a funny thing happened along the way. State politics got embroiled with something that was much more localized and it spread. The kerfuffle started in Loudon County at a school board meeting and like everything else, it went viral.
This incident and its aftermath basically flipped a state on its ear. Progressive policies of school boards are now going to be put in question across the country and like any revolution, it all started with a spark.
The aftermath of that incident and the Loudon County’s handling of it stretched all the way to the White House and frankly, everyone except the father. looked bad.
While the Virginia governors race has not been called yet, there is a good chance that Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin will be elected as the first Republican governor in over a decade. He ran on two things that are near and dear to every American, education and crime. Voters were obviously influenced by the events that happened in Loudon County and Youngkin took advantage by being clearly on the side of transparency and honesty, even down to the school board level.
There was a bigger issue at play as well. With President Biden’s approval numbers sinking, the Democratic party is also losing its approval numbers as well. The party has swung too far to the left (as I said it would months ago) and American voters (Republican and yes, Democrats too) aren’t drinking the Progressive Kool-Aide any more.
The defeat of the Minneapolis initiative to get rid of the police department and replace it with something akin to what we used to call “Square Badges” was another sign of the failed progressive attempts at reform.
Seeing the New Jersey governor’s race as close as it is is another example of Republicans going out en masse, and making their voices heard. While I would never consider Phil Murphy one of those progressive left leaning politicians, he definitely showed signs of remolding his politics to better suit this new agenda as opposed to being the staid middle of the road Democrat he once was. The votes are still being counted and this may even go to a recall, but the drumbeat you are beginning to hear is getting louder.
These are the elections that are creating the most noise and I haven’t delved into the smaller ones but as I have said, the pendulum is swinging back towards the center. The left had a major opportunity and the window seems to be closing fast. The blame will probably be dropped at the feet of President Biden as well it should. He was a moderate who quickly pandered to the squeaky wheel of the progressive branch of his party and that was an epic miscalculation. This is the first round of that failure. The mid terms next year will either put a very large nail in the left’s coffin or resurrect the ideology.
One last thing and this should give some food for thought. Many people have said that the leftist policies of the Squad will only gain traction as more and more kids are graduating from colleges across the country. These kids have had a liberal indoctrination comparable to what the Soviet Union did in their heyday and are ripe to lead the left wing onward.
Ok. I buy the reasoning but look a little closer. Private colleges graduate 32% of all college graduates. State schools the rest. Not every graduate from private schools are progressive liberals. They may want change and a better World but have not decided the best way to get there. They may believe in The Squads ideology when they graduate but they learn fairly quickly the hypocrisy of these four people and see through that ideology easily. Another important factor going forward is that admissions into private colleges has started to decrease. While this may be temporary, it does portend a little bit different future as far as the strength of liberal political discourse. Less people drinking the Kool-Aide, less people voting for it’s continuation.
The last point I want to make is that as these Liberals get older, fewer and fewer hold the same beliefs they did when they were younger. As whatever they call the 30 to 40 year old generation settles down and has children, you will not believe how quickly that flaming liberal will become the Mom Jean wearing conservative when it comes to the education of their kids and the safety of their families.
.