Inflation is hurting everyone, some more than others, for sure.
The precipitous drop in stock prices has hurt, as well. Even moguls like Mark Zuckerberg have seen their fortunes diminish, though one should hardly mist a tear for his loss of tens of billions of dollars when he is still worth tens of billions of Meta dollars.
Gasoline prices have seesawed in the last year, rising again as Election Day approaches. And every day, it seems, more consumer goods are in short supply.
So it is not surprising voters are poised to punish Democrats for their economic woes.
Too bad voters don’t take these events in context, don’t realize that inflation will ease, stocks will rebound, energy prices will fluctuate, the supply chain will correct itself. It might take months, even years, but the pain of today will be ameliorated.
What won’t be so easily fixed is the damage a Republican victory in the House and Senate, along with state houses and gubernatorial races, will impose in individual states and the country at large.
A woman’s right to have control over her own body is at stake.
GOP efforts to declare personhood on an embryo from the moment of conception is being advanced. Even the right to obtain contraception is under attack.
Medical research using fetal tissues may be restricted.
Libel laws may be altered to deter dissent.
Civil rights laws will be watered down to be almost inconsequential.
America’s leadership as the bulwark of global liberal democracy will be challenged. Aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia might be lessened if not eliminated.
Environmental laws will be gutted.
Forget about any increases in minimum wage. Prepare for more assaults on the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) as well as new attacks on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
For at least the next two years our national government will be locked in a stalemate as Republicans will try to impeach and remove Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, while any legislation they pass would be vetoed by Biden, though probably not overturned.
A Republican Senate will refuse to confirm any Biden federal court nominations and choices for federal positions.
If Republicans take control it will mean voters endorse election deniers, insurrectionists and candidates whose only qualification for running was allegiance to a grifter, a welch, a bigot, a misogynist, a racist, an Islamophobe, an exhibitionist, a divisive instigator, a liar, a dissembler, a culprit, an egoist, and a Putin puppet.
Biden was correct in calling this election “an inflection point” for our republic. Danger lies ahead if Trumpism flourishes.
Sadly, though most Americans think Biden’s right, pocketbook issues are trumping their better selves. They are dazed by thoughts of their depleted current finances. Will they awake in time to the reality, the consequences, of voting in mini-me Trumps?
No one I know likes losing money. At the same time, no one I know likes losing rights they enjoyed that allowed them to live a more fulfilling life.
So there you have it. The 2022 election for House, Senate and state offices is a contest of which values means more—financial or social.
