Posted on 09/22/2026 6:31:43 AM PDT by MtnClimber
Photo C-SPAN / YouTube.
You should vote against socialism, open borders, and trans everything. But what are you voting for if you vote for Republicans?
It’s late. The time for defining the choice is passing in a hurry. Election Day is coming, and some people have already voted. In several states, early voting began on September 18, and at least a few ballots are already in. But what are we voting for? This is where it gets awkward.
The Senate race in Delaware is probably pretty meaningless, and there’s not much reason to believe that Chris Coons is losing sleep over it. But go spend a few minutes at the campaign website of Dr. Mike Katz, the Republican who’s running against Coons. This is from the front page:
Screenshot
Several decades ago, the supermarket chain Ralph’s sold generic groceries that were just labeled with the name of the product: BEER, for example, or COFFEE, a word or two on a white package with a stripe.
That’s apparently what we’re doing this year, and we should probably be paying royalties to Ralph’s for the idea. The website of the Senate Republican Campaign Committee currently appears in black and white with a few little dashes of red at the top and bottom, like they were worried about paying a printshop for extra ink:
If you were an early adopter of dialup AOL, you remember when websites looked like this. It was about thirty years ago.
The Republican strategy for the midterms is that they’re framing this one as a contrast election: crazy people versus normals, recognizably human Americans versus weirdo socialists and the bizarre space alien creature from Texas who thinks Jesus wants you to trans your kids. In his midterm convention, Trump said that “we went through four years of embarrassment, hurt, harm, sickness, filth. It was bad.” So we’re voting in 2026 to still not go back to the Biden years.
All of that is just fine, as far as it goes. It’s true, and you should vote against socialism, open borders, and trans everything. But what are you voting for if you vote for Republicans? Trump has framed the midterms as a referendum on his presidency: “Pretend I’m on the ballot.”
What does that mean? Is the Iran War on the ballot? We should oppose Democrats, who are about as culturally sick as it’s possible to be, but what is your vote for? What affirmative set of principles and intentions lives inside a vote for a Republican congressional candidate?
As a sign of the empty core inside the oppositional framing, the Delaware senate candidate Mike Katz says on his campaign website that he’ll “support policies that preserve women’s sports as a competitive category for biological females,” which he describes as a necessary approach “because biological differences between males and females can affect athletic performance.” So sex is real, men and women are different, and policy should recognize biology.
Last week, Katz was on the stage with other candidates when another Republican referred to Rep. Tim “Sarah” McBride, a man who wears a dress to Congress, as a gentleman. The hosts of the forum cut his microphone, ending his participation in a public event.
Katz responded by condemning the other Republican for “misgendering” McBride:
You could be forgiven for wondering if Republicans know who they are and what they believe. They’re against Democrats, and they’ll let you know when they figure out the rest.
In 1979, Ted Kennedy was preparing to run for president, becoming the third brother to seek the same high office. But then the CBS News reporter Roger Mudd asked him a simple question: “Why do you want to be president?” Infamously, Kennedy couldn’t even begin to answer. He obviously hadn’t given it much thought.
He just thought he was entitled to it. He wasn’t sure why. That half-conscious grasping didn’t work for him, and that was effectively the end of his presidential ambitions. To run for office, you’re supposed to know why you’re doing it, what you intend to do, and what you believe.
In 2026, we’re not Democrats isn’t much of an offer.
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the election should be about one thing only
the well being of the nation and well being of the people.
Basing your vote on sending a message is wrong
Basing your vote on minor issues while ignoring fundamental issues is wrong
While current GOP leadership has flaws, the alternatives in the Democratic party will have a terrible impact on the country’s well being.
What leadership an elected member of congress will support is the most important decision they will make.
Will voters vote for the best possible future of this country given the limited choices available?
We should hope so
Agree with the headline, that’s for sure.
When Trump leaves office, the GOP will have no leadership whatsoever.
Everybody’s a pundit.
Thank Goria Steinem for two-income households.
The RINOcrats are betraying the United States.
I believe people will vote with their wallets - and high gas prices, grocery prices and just about everything else that has soared in price over the past year spells bad news for Republicans - as the party in power is always blamed.
Next would be the extremely unpopular and pointless war in Iran - the one we kept hearing would be over in a matter of days...weeks... months...
There is a good chance that Minnesota could turn red this cycle, but I don’t see any ads for the Senate race here.
Bkmk
Note the prices in the period of 2011-2014 during the Obama administration. There was no Democratic braying about gasoline affordability that I ever heard back then. Five hundred gallons of gasoline as a percentage of median household income was higher then by probably 60%.
How could it possibly be about anything else?
The Republicans have controlled Congress and the White House for nearly two years, and have legislated almost nothing of consequence from Trump's (original) agenda into law.
What are they going to run on now -- a stupid war in the Middle East that has been a political and economic disaster, and is opposed by large majorities in most states and House districts? LOL.
Republicans are The Seinfeld Party, a party about nothing.
Exactly. And this Congress has refused to adopt legislation -- like the SAVE Act and the DOGE cuts -- that is supported overwhelmingly by American voters.
There is no reason for any American voter to trust the Republican Party to even live up to its own campaign promises. If the "ObamaCare repeal" debacle didn't demonstrate that clearly, then I don't know what would.
“high gas prices, grocery prices”
Imagine:
This is what Mrs. Pam Peoria, a great cook who almost never eats out, spent on a whole year of edible groceries and nutritious drinks such as milk from Aug 1, 2025 to July 30,2026....
This is what her dentist paid for a single month [January 2026] of Affordable Care Act coverage premiums....
[My dentist paid $1,600/month for coverage in 2025]
What's the big issue locally?
Oh...
Yes but not the point. No one is able to make ends meet right now on average professional salaries- rainy day funds depleted because all discomfort is passed down chain to those least able to absorb it
You have to be some sort of blithering idiot to not accept a negative vote as a meaningful vote.
How about: “I am voting against rabid dogs.”
Jeesus.
Year COLA
2009 0.0
2010 0.0
2011 3.6
2012 1.7
2013 1.5
2014 1.7
2015 0.0
2016 0.3
2017 2.0
2018 2.8
2019 1.6
2020 1.3
2021 5.9
2022 8.7
2023 3.2
2024 2.5
2025 2.8
https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/colaseries.html
Imagine if a graph of the price of 50 gallons of gasoline was made as a percentage of Mr. Peoria Republican’s Social Security income from 2008, with the times Republicans held the White House in red and the times Democrats held the White House in blue.
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