Meanwhile, the same Supreme Court makes it difficult to vote, facilitates the suppression of votes and allows partisan groups to ridicule for equal representation. The Senate is so breathtakingly undemocratic that Five of the six Republican-appointed judges were confirmed by a majority of Republicans who received fewer votes and represented fewer people than the Democratic minority.
There are ways to reduce inequality in our system: the statehood of Washington, DC and Puerto Rico if they want to, the expansion of the Supreme Court and time limits, the federal ban on guerrilla rule, and so on. However, none of this will happen if historical trends are maintained and Republicans take control of the House of Representatives or Senate.
What is worse: it is not enough that we hold on. We need get seats to break the Senate congestion and deprive the right to Send. Joe Mancin of West Virginia and Kirsten Sinem of Arizona. We also need a pillow, because the map of 2024 is difficult, and unless President Joe Biden can change his rating of recognition, the Republican trifecta would be the end of our remaining rights. They would not even need the Supreme Court at that time.
So, yes, it is difficult to argue for a solution if voting has so far proved so powerless. And there is something else in it that I feel most hopeful: the deprivation of our supposed majority. In fact, we seem to be in the minority. Because functionally we are. And I can sense that it is permeating, not only among the politically engaged, but even among those who are only enjoying the presidential election. I even feel it in between apolitical.
It’s like November 2016, when Trump “beat” Hillary Clinton, despite receiving three million fewer votes.
We all know what history says about the mid-term elections: the party that controls the White House is usually crushed, especially during the first term of the new president. There are a number of reasons for this, such as the President’s inability to deliver on campaign promises through our disrupted Congress. But the biggest reason is quite simple – a minority motivates. The tea party movement came after Barack Obama’s election. Resistance emerged after the selection of Donald Trump. QAnon was a great success after Joe Biden’s victory, sparking school board protests against masks and a CRT boogeyman.
Meanwhile, those in the majority are becoming complacent. “We won, mission accomplished!” This, together with dissatisfaction with the pace of achievement, led to a double situation where the opposition party is highly motivated and mobilized, but the ruling party is dying. More often, wavy elections take over the opposition to the legislature.
Who is in the minority today?
Republicans, of course. Democrats control the presidency, the House of Representatives and nominally the Senate.
But who is really today in the minority? We are.
Every liberal who cares about arms security, abortion, the fundamental right to privacy, the exclusion of the conservative theocratic agenda from our lives. We cannot even protect public health in time pandemic because of these conservative ideologues. We may not even end this Supreme Court term, as the court could literally deprive the Environmental Protection Agency of the right to protect our environment (in a decision that would disrupt the federal government’s powers).
Even if we got a seat in the Senate and got rid of the murder next year, would the Supreme Court allow DC statehood? Would they allow a real bill on voting rights? Of course not! This is a renegade court that literally invents useless justifications to impose its unpopular program on all Americans. Somehow the simple text of the Second Amendment, ‘well-regulated militia’, has become, thanks to the seeming ‘originalist’, a perverse blanket that allows all arms fetishists to threaten society.
Viscerally, we seem to be in the minority, because in reality we are in the minority.
Thus, November puts us in an unknown territory. Yes, Joe Biden is unpopular. Yes, inflation and gas prices are high. Yes, history says the party is gaining power. But now the party that is left without power is winning. The rules are being rewritten.
Republicans have come a long way from their one-off abortions and gun owners. Evangelicals today may love Trump, but at first they were dissatisfied with the immoral filander who ripped out his charity and had sex with a porn star while his wife was at home with a child. It didn’t stop them from voting for him because of the abortion. Nothing else mattered. Liberals, meanwhile, like to complain about all the ways a candidate deceives us, and it costs us.
But now we will probably see the birth of a single-issue liberal voter. Carrey Eleveld wrote about an intriguing poll of the Pennsylvania governor and senate. Respondents were asked about their main priorities.
| WOMEN | MEN | ALL VOTERS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ABORTS (SEN / GUV) | 24% / 16% | 4% / 3% | 14% / 10% |
| ECONOMICS (SEN / GUV) | 16% / 24% | 29% / 28% | 22% / 26% |
| Arms Control (SEN / GUV) | 16% / 18% | 18% / 15% | 17% / 16% |
The women interviewed more often mentioned abortion as their main priority in the Senate race, without clearly understanding that abortion was also clearly indicated in their governor’s election. This will no doubt come.
The women then preferred the Democratic candidate for the Senate by 23 points and the governor by 16 points. In other words, the more important an abortion is for women, the stronger their support for the Democratic candidate, overcoming concerns about the economy, which would normally be at the forefront and center of the mid-term elections.
For the sake of clarity, this is one data point, so we need more information, but it certainly supports my sense that traditional dynamics have changed. Why else would Democrats be the leaders in Wisconsin? If the Democrats are in charge (albeit a little) of two of the most evenly divided states in the union, it certainly shows that we are not in the usual realm. And note that both of these surveys were conducted before this decision was hit by the force of a neutron bomb.
Another anecdotal point of view is this one dynamic:
My apolitical, hyperreligious, large Latin family group chat is angry about this decision. My partner reports the same, with women realizing that even their fertility treatment is at stake. You may see the same thing in your social media feeds and group chats. Follow people you consider apolitical or even Republican. If you see what I and others see, write in the comments. I really want to know, even anecdotally, what others are experiencing.
In a perfect world, this brutal conservative overrun promotes progressive (and even underdeveloped) voter activity on behalf of the Democrats, who are taking advantage of this moment to actively fight the Supreme Court, promising reforms to rebalance and strengthen our democratic right to vote. .
Add in the votes on contraception, and that’s a really solid plan for November.
Today we saw Nancy Pelosi reading a stupid poem, House Democrats singing “American the Beautiful” on the Congressional ladder, and House Whip Jim Clyburn is demanding a decision to end. Roe was “anti-climatic.” We need better leaders and a better approach in the coming months to increase our chances of winning. We need fire.
But in the end, it may not matter, just as the evangelists voted for Trump. As we vote for abortion in every state, both red and blue, we can see a mobilization that we have never seen before, especially in the mid-term elections. Either that is it or we start counting down the next cherished right on the chopping block.