Reflections on the political year that wasn’t, 2022.
Harken back to the earliest days of this year when the prospects of earning some measure of political revenge against senile president Joe Biden and his dedicated band of Democrat malcontents, socialists, environmentalist kooks, abortion loving feminists, race hustlers, anarchists, “woke” corporate globalists, Stacey Abrams-like election deniers, voter “suppression” whiners and generally misguided limousine liberals – looked promising. Actually, better than promising. Almost a certainty.
There was going to be a midterm election in a president’s first term, right? Plus, senile Joe and cohorts had been screwing everything up so badly – blatantly blaming others and lying about it -- how could Republicans possibly lose? Many conservatives, myself among them, dedicated countless hours to the dream of sweeping the Democrats out of power like so many dust bunnies off a porch that hadn’t been touched by a broom in years.
Needless to say, it didn’t happen. In a piece titled “The Red Ripple”, Scott McKay wrote at The American Spectator:
“The truth is that there is also manifest failure among Republicans — it’s political more than in governance, which is perhaps an even worse sin — and, if the voters were only willing to deliver a mild rebuke, at best, to the Democrats, they do appear willing to deliver one to the Republicans as well.
“The voters took a look at the Republican Party, and they don’t prefer Mitch McConnell to Chuck Schumer — or, if they do, not by a lot. They don’t prefer Kevin McCarthy to Nancy Pelosi — or, if they do, not by a lot.
“And they didn’t see much of anything out of the GOP that they thought was worth voting for, even if they thought the Democrats were no better.”
Therein lies the political saga of 2022. While a near 3-point majority of voters chose Republican candidates this year, the margin wasn’t large enough to dramatically tilt the balance in offices won. The Democrat vote collecting machines in major urban centers was nearly sufficient to counteract the good sense “Silent Majority” in the spaces in between. Look at the map. You’d almost believe America is a solid red Republican country from pure territory held alone. But the blue “blips” are there, no question about it.
The real question now is whether the Democrats deserve credit for overcoming the odds or if Republicans merit the blame for blowing a huge opportunity?
I’ve been awful hard on Democrats this year (and other years as well). My criticisms of Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Chucky Schumer, Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren, “The Squad”, Gretchen Whitmer and every other Democrat, save for Tulsi Gabbard, who mustered the wisdom to leave the nut farm a few months ago, have been entirely justified. All of the above Democrats and many, many more, are as toxic a collection of “leaders” – and just plain rotten human beings – as you’ll ever find in any discussion of recent or ancient history.
These bottom of the barrel dwelling elitist wretches prey off the utter ignorance of the Democrat base to achieve political gain, which they’ve employed to wield power over their constituents – and us – to the detriment of constitutional freedoms and liberties that 245 years’ worth of soldiers and sailors and good citizens have dedicated their lives to preserving and safeguarding with sweat, blood and in many instances, their lives.
Yet the 2022 elections were a travesty.
With the notable exception of a modest contingent of conservative national Republicans – you know, the ones who don’t consult with focus groups or Karl Rove’s “white board” before they actually talk about issues – the “average” Republican isn’t good for a whole lot. It hurts me to say this, but it’s true. If the GOP can’t be counted on to deliver on basic promises – such as working for fiscal solvency, a strong national defense and defending a set of uniquely American customs and traditions that are badly in need of a strong voice in the public square – then what use are they?
All Democrats don’t agree on the same things, yet all Democrat wolves seemingly come to each other’s assistance when one of the pack gets in trouble. They don’t just rest on their political haunches – like Republicans do -- and say something wishy-washy so as to appear “moderate” and “bipartisan” to hypothetically appeal to swing voters. Was Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman beholden to “moderate” platitudes?
In his piece, McKay took Republicans to task for not standing for anything, and he is right. Some Republicans, such as Senator Rick Scott, attempted to move the needle earlier this year by introducing a set of principles that the party would stand for. For those voters searching for substance, Scott provided it, even if individuals might disagree with some of his plan’s planks.
Instead, the Republican Party epitomizes the old saying, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” This is 2022 in a nutshell.
This year demonstrated in spades that most events within any two or four year election cycle don’t show up in the voting booth. It’s always nauseatingly hilarious to listen to TV pundits (liberal, conservative, whatever) dribble on about the news of any particular day supposedly meaning something to the voting public, as though the average Democrat voter – and those liberals who label themselves as “independent” (I know several of them) – even keeps track of the month-to-month goings on of news in the world.
Do the disgruntled leftist youth sit glued to their screens watching or reading news about what happened today in Iran or Ukraine? Or China? Or do they play video games and trade messages with their equally apathetic, spoiled and brainless friends while the productive people are out making the economy roll? This is the demographic group – along with unmarried women – primarily responsible for Democrat victories.
Anyone who was shocked and outraged at the botched Biden pull-out of Afghanistan should’ve been seething with anger for eternity, but welfare dependent and filthy rich “climate change” obsessed liberal voters couldn’t give a hoot about anything other than maintaining their slice of the borrowed federal pie and using it to subsidize electric cars and windmills. Let’s face it, Democrats are darn proficient at procuring the funds and feeding them to their voters like a 600-lb sow on her side suckling her newborn piglets.
Rather than put a stop to the bloated government practice, far too many Republicans join the math challenged appropriators to perpetuate the sorry status quo, completely ignoring the fact Democrats were purposely bypassing real political issues such as inflation, street crime, homelessness, millions of illegal border crossings, exploded energy costs (due to government policy, mind you) as well as visible and provable corruption at the upper echelons of the current administration.
What gets missed? Why aren’t people talking about fentanyl and the epidemic of American overdose deaths? It isn’t just destitute migrant workers and criminals working their way through the holes in the proverbial fence (which Trump was prevented from completing and is now worthless). Little pills are leveling young and vibrant Americans at a much faster rate than practically every war this nation has ever fought. What’s being done about it?
Why would an elected Republican in Washington – or anywhere else – ever work with a Democrat on any issue they didn’t campaign on? Did the twelve turncoat Republican senators who submitted to the whims of the Chucky Schumer-led Democrat majority on codifying gay marriage actually campaign on the subject? If not, then what’s the rationale for a “yes” vote?
Never Trumpers, Democrats and the media point to Donald Trump as the reason why Republicans fell short of predictions this year, but strictly looking at the numbers, most of Trump’s endorsed candidates won their respective general election races easily. The president came up lacking in a number of the high-profile ones, however, all but handing his enemies a “See, I told you so” moment.
Perspective is required. Liz Cheney was the poster child for anti-Trumpism and now she’s about to be a former congresswoman searching for some other dive bar to haunt and lure new Trump-hating suitors. She has zero influence in the Republican party – and none of those who voted to impeach Trump enjoy any kind of influence going into 2023. Neither do the Bush era’s neocons. They’re so yesterday.
What to think of 2022? Just like with any other year, there were some good things and some not so good things. It won’t do anyone much good to sit back and point fingers. 2023 promises to be a heck of an interesting year. Did the conservative cause become any less just because Republicans muffed the handoff this year? You decide.
Joe Biden economy
inflation
Biden cognitive decline
gas prices,
Nancy Pelosi
Biden senile
January 6 Committee
Liz Cheney
Build Back Better
Joe Manchin
RINOs
Marjorie Taylor Green
Kevin McCarthy
Mitch McConnell
2022 elections
Donald Trump
2024 presidential election