11/10/2022
Here are some takeaways from the 2022 mid-term elections and the distinct absence of the big “Red Wave” some had predicted, and others had feared.
1. First off, and this ought to be abundantly clear to anyone who wants to look with an open mind and heart, and who's willing to take a hard honest look at themselves, Divisive politics fails to create any mandate for anyone.
We've shared this point on a number of occasions, and anyone who wishes to do their own research can quickly collaborate this for themselves, the last national “We the People” electoral (Was also a popular vote mandate) was when Ronald Reagan won re-election in 1984. George H. W. Bush won his 1988 presidential election with a sound margin, however, wasn’t anything like Reagan’s victories. And Reagan garnered a larger victory in his re-election than he did for his first term following the disastrous presidency of President Carter.
This begs to question what was it about Reagan, other than his policies, that galvanized such huge landslides? In our opinion, there were several factors that contributed to this. First, he had a set of values that he believed in, that he believed were distinctly American, and he never wavered from those values. Secondly, without compromising these values, he sought common ground, common values, and common issues from the opposition, and worked from there. He focused on the similarities instead of the differences, valuing the American Culture instead of Multi-Culturalism, the former is inclusive, the latter is divisive. During Reagan’s administration, Republicans were a minority political party. In essence, during the Reagan administration, America had a 3-party political system, though no one knew it. There were the Democrats, Republicans, and the now extinct conservative Democrats. Reagan found several key issues between the Republicans and the Conservative Democrats of the Bible Belt South and proceeded to accomplish a great many achievements. It is interesting to note that what used to be the Conservative Bible Belt Democrats are today the Republican base.
2. Second, no matter how successful Trump was with some of his policies in creating a thriving economy and achieving historical noteworthy feats which include energy independence, an energy surplus, and the lowest unemployment rates in American history for Black Americans, one cannot win the mandate or unquestioned trust of the American people by bashing any group of Americans. No matter what anyone may feel about other Americans who have differing opinions than ours, they are still Americans.
It is noteworthy that many of the greatest Republicans used to be Democrats to include Ronald Reagan. If one wishes to read the history of Reagan’s political views, many Republicans would be surprised to find that early on, he had views that were antagonistic to basic Republican values. It took Reagan gaining experience to discover this and have his values evolve. If Republicans constantly denigrate and belittle Democrats, how can Republicans realistically expect the next Reagan to migrate from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party?
3. Thirdly, no matter how disastrous the policies are with the current administration, there are still Americans who find something in the message carried by this administration that appeals to them.
In life, everyone bi***es, at least from time to time. Some obviously bitch more than others, however, everyone bi***es. Few go through the activity to attempt to find the solution. Divisive politics can win for an individual for a time, and a party for a time, however, divisive politics will always fail the proponent eventually. The last Republican strategy that wasn’t divisive was “The Contract with America” from the 1994 mid-term elections. It was a platform based upon what the Republican Party stood for instead of what Republicans stood against, and what the party promised to do if the party gained power. This propelled George W into office following President Clinton. Unfortunately for the Republican Party, they failed to follow up with this and returned to the status quo of attacking their opponents, and this led to Obama and the Democrats coming back into power. After Obama created a divisive environment for the nation, a powerful anti-government flood came in the form of Trump. Being business minded, he commenced to simply get to work, and called anyone in his way stupid, incompetent, or worse. What Trump failed to understand is while a 45% share of the market in business is a very successful business model, it is Armageddon for politics which requires a majority. It is impossible to foster unity with hatred and belittlement.
4. Our forth takeaway, the first charismatic individual who realizes that repeating what Reagan did, look for those issues that unit people, and run a campaign primarily upon a vision that anyone can believe in that is inclusive and available for every American, will become the first individual to win a landslide similar to the ones that Reagan had.
It is simple logic that if I want what Jacob Johnson has, all I have to do is the same thing that Jacob Johnson did. If a presidential candidate wants a landslide mandate victory, do what Reagan did, unit all fellow Americans. Stop trying to divide us into neat little groups. We are NOT Croat-Americans, German-Americans, Anglo/Saxon-Americans, Black- Americans, African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, or any other hyphen-Americans, We are simply Americans. And if you say that you are an American and that you love your country the same as us, then we are all Americans. United We Stand – Divided We [All] Fall.
This is what makes America great, we are a melting pot. And if you have read this far, then we’ll leave you with this thought; America requires both the right wing and the left wing in order to fly. If either the left wing or the right wing is broken or missing, America will crash and burn.
Do we see any evidence of this around us now?