Posted on 10/18/2018 5:25:44 AM PDT by Kaslin
People who have real things to worry about don’t spend their time worry about unimportant issues. Living in the United States in 2018 is a blessing, when compared to the rest of world and the rest of human history. We have full employment, a growing economy, and technology is making life easier every day. But human beings aren’t used to having it so good, and there’s something that won’t let us just enjoy it. This lack of real problems is both a blessing and a curse for Republicans heading into November.
When the economy is tanking, or even simply limping along like it did in the 8 years of the Obama presidency, what to campaign on is pretty easy – it’s the economy, stupid. But what do candidates campaign on when things are going well?
People tend to take good times for granted. There is no doubt that President Trump’s tax cuts and regulatory repeal efforts have super-charged the economy, only the most partisan of economists who swore his election would bring about an economic calamity would argue otherwise. But a larger paycheck starting in January is long forgotten by November. Even $100 more per pay period is now just what someone makes, in the minds of people cashing those checks.
Elections are rarely about rewarding politicians for what they have done for people, they’re about what they’re promising to do in the future. Were they about past good deeds, Winston Churchill would have won reelection in a landslide soon after the defeat of Germany. But the man whose will almost singlehandedly ensured Great Britain’s survival was unceremoniously tossed aside by voters for, sadly enough, watered-down socialism. He’d led them through their worst days and they wanted something else when the dust settled.
Republicans looking to voters for love for the economic recovery are going to have to sell something else, something next, if they expect to remain in office. When people have it good, promising to make it better doesn’t carry the weight promising to turn bad times around does.
When people are out of problems, real problems, they have a tendency to create them in their heads. We can’t just accept that things are good, we’re afraid it’s a temporary state.
This part of human nature currently favors Democrats. When people aren’t worrying about their jobs going away or making their mortgage payments, they can focus on other things. And Democrats are really good at finding other things to rile up their base over, just look at the news.
But what are Republicans offering for the future? For that matter, what are Democrats offering?
Republicans are promising more of the same, which will be enough for some but isn’t really a rallying cry that will excite voters. The way Democrats attempted to destroy Justice Brett Kavanaugh will motivate a lot of people to vote against Democrats, if they’re still angry enough about those smears a month after they’ve faded from the headlines. (It will for me, and likely you, but if you’re reading this you’re significantly more involved in politics than the average American.)
Democrats can’t run on the economy, as soon as their hands were completely removed from the levers of power was when it finally turned around. Trying to convince people they don’t know how bad they have it takes a lot of effort and rings hollow when people have it pretty good.
So Democrats are doing what has been their electoral strategy for the last decade – telling people they’re victims, that Republicans are out to get them, and they’ll make things “fair” by punishing people who have it better than they do, etc., etc. The politics of envy definitely has a constituency, but its teeth are dulled when people are working.
With rare exception, mostly Democrats in districts gerrymandered so blue they’d elected Fidel Castro’s rotting corpse, they aren’t trying to sell voters their vision for America because they know it’d be rejected. Higher taxes, socialized medicine, government interference in everyday lives while angry mobs shout down and attack people for existing wrong isn’t really a winning message. This leaves them to run against Donald Trump, the man not the president.
This is an incredibly important election that will determine whether or not we continue to move forward into a more prosperous and free future or we will take a turn toward a leftist Hell where individual liberty is curtailed in the name of the “collective good,” and neither side is making their case.
This is a luxury of people who are truly out of real problems. As I wrote in my book, for most of human history, until recently, “(w)ith the exception of nobles, daily life consisted of waking up, tending farms, hoping to have enough food to feed your family, hoping you aren’t killed by a random stranger, fear of getting sick and dying, even from something as simple as a cut, and getting to bed early enough so you can sleep and do it all over again the next day.”
Thankfully, we don’t live like that anymore in the US. But because we don’t, we can spend a week fretting over stupid things like Elizabeth Warren’s bogus claims of Native American heritage (Honestly, she’s so white that in a snow storm her perfect camouflage is nudity), the president calling a porn star “horseface,” or the murder of a writer most people have never heard of by a despotic regime on the other side of the planet.
None of that stuff matters, and it never will. We elevate it because we’re looking for something to be upset about because we really are out of major problems. If we vote to return Democrats to power in three weeks, we won’t have this issue anymore, we will have elected real problems to replace our imagined ones.
I’m mad as hell. Only voting will assuage my rage.
Yeah. This guy just doesn’t get it. The rage has been edging on for 50 friggin’ years. An extra $100 a month isn’t going to cool it down. They moment that you start attacking me becasue of some kind of imaginary injustice that someone of my race did over 200 years ago is not something I am going to ignore.
These lunatics don’t want to pull Trump from the presidency, they friggin’ want to kill me and my family.
Leading demonrat candidates either think their Spartacus or Pocahontas...
....and the GOP has problems?
I would expect having no problems to be more or an issue for the dems, who thrive on *solutions* to the *problems* the evil republicans have created.
Republicans offer a return to the concept of "innocent until proven guilty."
Democrats offer endless witch hunts going all the way back to Elementary School, without evidence and with the presumption of guilt.
The problem as I see it is that every time Conservative policies get the economy humming really well, large groups of people become envious that the new wealth is not trickling down to them fast enough. Then they vote for Democrats.
Which party does more for the benefit of the average American? Is hate the motivator to vote? Who is paying mobs to harass candidates and elected officials? Is the threat of violence an agenda ? Why is the media so dishonest? Why do people lack basic respect for each other?
Why does Hollywood continue to make such sick movies? Is looking into the camera and lying now the norm? Is Socialism a blue wave? Is the average person living life without understanding reality?
However, I personally don't see the current situation in any way similar. I think most people see the world as more chaotic and dangerous than it has been in a long while, and recognize that much of the world wants to take what we have from us. They also see that there is great division in the country, and that there are those on the left who truly want to dictate their ideology and their will on the rest of us. We're not even close to being out of problems.
A 21 trillion dollar debt isn’t a problem?
https://dailycaller.com/2018/10/17/trump-orders-budget-cut/
Good God. I could barely even bring myself to read the article. We are out of problems?
We have one of the BIGGEST problems in our country's history that is like an 18 Wheeler with no brakes hurtling down a long hill at 85 mph towards a 90 degree turn...
Our unbelievable national debt. I guess it isn't Derek Hunter's fault that nobody seems to see this as a problem.
Same here! But the ‘wall’ is certainly an issue!
Massive national debt, open borders, rampant Mora decadence and Obamacare are some problems.
The border is still a sieve and there are still 30 million fraudulently documented foreigners sucking the life out of our country.
Out of problems? What about: The National Debt; Term Limits And Recall Still Not Existing For All Levels Of Politicians And Judges; Pension Reforms; All Levels Of Government Not Shrunk Down To The Smallest Levels Ever Possible; Ending Judicial Activism; Ending Political Correctness; Ending Political Bias In The Mainstream Media And Entertainment World; Privatizing As Many Government Controlled Entities As Is Possible; Profoundly Decreasing All Criminal Activities To The Smallest Levels Ever Possible; Ending Being “The World’s Policeman”;...And Fully Encouraging The Rest Of The World To Do The Same Things Within Their Countries.
Out of problems? Total BS. As long as there is a Democrat standing there is a problem. Chicago, Memphis ... out of problems? BS.
When times are good, there is nothing to complain about.
Except the biggest problem of all.
That biggest problem is the socialists, who insist on undoing the free-market system and all the progress that’s been made in the last 2 years, and their biggest goal of all, the undoing of the government infrastructure that includes the U.S. Constitution and our bill-of-rights, and the separation of powers of the 3 branches of government. We have foreign enemies who wish to destroy us, and we have enemies within who have the same goals as those foreign enemies.
Other than that, we have nothing to worry about. Move on, nothing to see here.
These people are sick———democrats thrive on chaos, bad news, money trouble, and abject failure.
They moment that you start attacking me because of some kind of imaginary injustice that someone of my race did over 200 years ago is not something I am going to ignore.
These lunatics don’t want to pull Trump from the presidency, they friggin’ want to kill me and my family.”””
I am 100% Norwegian. My ancestors came to the USA in the mid-1850’s. They never went to the southern states. Came here legally & worked farms in Wisconsin. NEVER farmed COTTON and NEVER had any slaves. They worked hard & my
Mother & Father both went to college-—in the 1920’s. That was the result of very hard work on the part of my grandparents.
I absolutely REFUSE to apologize for being born WHITE.
I REFUSE to apologize for having a good education, including years in a one room school.
I REFUSE to apologize for doing my homework & taking & passing tests thru all my years in school.
I REFUSE to apologize for working more than one job at a time-—owning my own house at age 26——and for supporting myself with hard work and long hours.
I REFUSE to apologize for going back to school at night & taking Accounting classes and getting grades of 4.0 in every class I took, which took 4 years.
I REFUSE to apologize for being self-employed at age 41 and serving my clients with bookkeeping services -— one of which I have done books for for OVER 48 years, and still do so.
I REFUSE to apologize for being successful at a sport I began when I was over 46 years old.
Basically, I REFUSE to swallow any of the BS that is being pushed at me from today’s snowflakes & Liberals.
You want my property? My belongings? You better bring help. I won’t give up easily. I will fight.
The author seems tired of winning.
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