Bad Moon Rising?

An ominous feeling on election eve

Photo courtesy of Mike Newbry on Unsplash

I’m writing this post on election eve amid dark storm clouds on the horizon. There are two kinds of dark clouds. The first type exists because I live in the Pacific Northwest, and it’s what happens on a typical November day.

The other, however, is the type I’m worried about the most. And that is, unfortunately, the sad reality that I may wake up on Wednesday morning (or most likely later in the week because of vote count delays) with a Congress that the MAGA crazies will have taken over.

That’s right, the House of Representatives and the Senate may fall to folks with no interest in governing or following the rule of law. There are many reasons for such an occurrence, not the least that most presidents, in their first term, end up losing seats. There have been a few exceptions here and there, but it’s far more common for it to happen than not.

But let’s be honest about the situation. We have inflation in our economy that’s putting the American people in a foul mood. And the opposition political party is pouring billions into ads reminding the people of who’s in charge. The headwinds, right now, are ominous for Democrats. If they can somehow hang on, it would be a minor miracle.

The reasons for inflation are nuanced. But the voting public doesn’t care about nuance. They care about what they pay at the pump or grocery store. Someone has to take the blame, and the party in charge is the one that does in most elections.

You might think that this year could be the year that bucks the trend. Democrats are up against an opposition party that has completely lost its mind, and election liars permeate candidacies all around the country. And the right-wing Supreme Court put a stake through the hearts of America’s women by overturning Roe v Wade earlier this year. Surely those two things are enough to scare enough folks from voting for that party.

Not according to many of the recent polls, unfortunately. The last one I saw, from NBC, showed that the generic ballot of which party the public would like to be in charge is tied at 47%. Should I be excited by such a poll? Is the momentum in the last few days shifting toward Democrats? I’m not optimistic.